A festival for all outdoors enthusiasts

Hermanus will come alive this weekend with the return of the popular Hi-Tec Walker Bay Outdoor Festival, which will combine six events for serious athletes, a plethora of options for the less avid sportsmen and women, and loads of thrilling fun for the spectators.

With mountain biking, trail running, triathlons, open-water swims, cliff jumps and the exhilarating Hi-Tec Dash4Cash, there is an activity for everyone at the Hi-Tec Walker Bay Outdoor. So be sure not to miss out on the excitement, be it for a morning or all weekend, from Friday 23 to Monday 26 April. There has never been a better time to visit Hermanus!

“We’d like the Hi-Tec Walker Bay Outdoor to grow into a weekend for everyone,” says Gerhardi Odendaal, group CEO of the organisers of the festival, the Old School Group. “The town of Hermanus lends itself perfectly to a range of sporting events, with its world-class mountain biking routes, hiking trails and hospitable attitude towards hosting road events like triathlons. But it is also unarguably one of the most beautiful sea-side towns in the country and it boasts an incredible wine route as well as fantastic restaurants. The Hi-Tec Walker Bay Outdoor seeks to bring all of those elements together and show off everything Hermanus has to offer.”

The action gets underway on Friday evening, 23 April, with the Ledlenser Twilight Run. It is a 7.5-kilometre trot along the Cliff Path, into the setting sun, from Grotto Beach to the historic Old Harbour. While some of the 200 expected entrants will race to beat the sun, most will take their time; showcasing the twin nature of the Hi-Tec Walker Bay Outdoor, where every event is as competitive as each individual entrant wishes to make it.

Following the Ledlenser Twilight Run, the sporting events continue on Saturday 24 April and participants have the opportunity to enter one or multiple of the remaining 17 events on the Walker Bay Outdoor schedule. These include long and short route mountain bike races, with single- or two-day options, as well as a one- or two-day trail run, a triathlon, open water swims, plus the See & Sand cliff jump and swim run.

Each event can be entered individually or as part of the Walker Bay Xtreme, a six-event multi-sports challenge. To earn a Big 6 Xtreme finisher’s medal competitors need to complete the Ledlenser Twilight Run, Day 1 of the MTB Adventure, the 14 km trail run, the sprint distance triathlon and the 2.5 km open-water swim. The most exhilarating and perhaps daunting challenge of the Walker Bay Xtreme is the cliff jump and swim run. It requires you to leap from the 8m high Dreunkrans into the cool waters of Walker Bay.

On Sunday, 25 April, the mountain biking and trail running events conclude in the morning, before the signature event of the 2021 Hi-Tec Walker Bay Outdoor takes place. The newly-created Dash4Cash will certainly be among the most exciting races on the 2021 South African sports calendar.

The top three men’s and women’s participants of the Hi-Tec Walker Bay Xtreme (who will be determined after the Trail Adventure on Sunday morning, along with the other athletes who qualify for the Hi-Tec Dash4Cash) will be paired against each other in a unique, never been seen before event. They will be dropped off in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and will have to swim, cycle and run their way back to the race village near the Old Harbour. There, a few final mystery challenges await before the winners will be able to walk away with their share of R50 000 in cash prizes.

Non-athletes will also play their part in the Hi-Tec Dash4Cash. Six lucky winners from the social media competition will partner with the athletes once the race reaches its final phases, in the race village. There they will help the athletes complete the final two challenges of the Hi-Tec Dash4Cash.

Monday 26 April brings the HI-TEC Walker Bay Outdoor to its conclusion with the triathlon and open water swim events. The Sprint and Junior Distance triathlons provide options for the young and young at heart triathletes in the field, while the open water swims offer 5 and 2.5 km routes. The overall Hi-Tec Walker Bay Xtreme Champions will be crowned on Monday after the Open Water Swim.

Keep an eye on the HI-TEC Walker Bay Outdoor social media handles for more information on the HI-TEC Dash4Cash. Stay updated by following Walker Bay Outdoor, on Facebook, @walkerbayoutdoor on Instagram, and @WalkerBayO- DR on Twitter.

For more details on the events and for online entries visit www.walkerbayoutdoor.com.