Drie Provinsies Marathon 2012

A great race. Well worth the traveling from Johannesburg (about 4 hours). Typical small town race where all the locals welcome you to their town. Catch the bus from the finish, in Christiana, at 5am and it gets you to the start, in Jan Kempdorp, by about 6am. Race starts at 6:30am but there is coffee and sandwiches and bananas to keep you refreshed before the start. The start is in the Northern Cape and just as you leave the town of Jan Kempdorp you enter the second province, North West. There is only one climb that classifies as a hill and it is over by 11km. Even though the profile shows you are going downhill after that it feels like a steady incline. With about 8km you run through town, Christiana, and across the Vaal river for a 5km loop into the third province,Free State. Half of this loop is steadily up but the second half is steadily down. A race to put on the list to try. When looking at the profile take note of the altitude as it does not change much.