The last race of the inaugural Montrail-CAPESTORM Summer Trail Series is taking place on Wednesday 27 February in the Silvermine Homestead section of the Table Mountain National Park, Cape Town.

The Trail Series concept has swept through the Cape like a Fynbos wild fire, attracting top athletes from all over the country and the World – like UK international Julia Bleasdale, visiting Norwegian Orienteer Christian Froyd and local trail legend Warren Petterson. This mix of overseas and local talent has resulted in an ultra competitive field that has without doubt helped raise the profile of the Trail Series.

Entries have been received as far a field as Durban, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth – even the Cape’s ‘country’ runners from Stellenbosch and Paarl have made the hour plus trek to experience the action.

Athletes old and young, fast and slow have embraced the opportunity to both compete and enjoy the spectacular natural surroundings that we are so blessed with in South Africa, and all within the relative safety of an organized event.

"An 8-11km trail run is long enough for the fast runners to get a solid run and short enough for the average weekend warrior runner to challenge him/herself – that’s the beauty and accessibility of the Trail Series concept", says Trail Series organizer Owen Middleton.

The Trail Series has without a shadow of a doubt arrived with a resounding bang onto the South African trail running calendar - thanks in no small part to title sponsors Montrail & CAPESTORM.

Fresh on the back of this successful first series, the Trail Series horse has officially been released from its Cape Town stable and will be seen next in Gauteng for the launch of the first of two Trail Series events in 2008 – the Gauteng Winter Trail Series in May and the Summer Trail Series in November.

Both the winter and summer Trail Series events in Gauteng will take place on weekends and in areas that will be well worth the short drive to clear the city. Entries will be limited, and cash and product prizes to the value of R30 000 per series will once again be open for the taking by both category and series winners, as well as spot prizes!

The Cape will see the addition of a Winter Trail Series in August, with one race scheduled to be at night for something a little different!

Provisional dates for the rest of 2008, and including the first quarter of 2009, are as follows: 

May - Johannesburg Winter Series (All venues TBC, start time 9:00am)
Sat 10 May 2008
Sat 17 May 2008
Sat 24 May 2008 

May - Pretoria Winter Series (All venues TBC, start time 9:00am)
Sun 11 May 2008
Sun 18 May 2008
Sun 25 May 2008

August - Cape Winter Series (All venues TBC, Sat start 09:00am)
2 August 2008
9 August 2008
16 August 2008
20 August 2008 (Wed night run, start 17h45) 

November - Gauteng Summer Series (All venues TBC, start 09:00am)
1 November 2008
8 November 2008
15 November 2008
22 November 2008
29 November 2008 

January 2009 - Cape Summer Series (All starts 17h45)
14 January 2009
21 January 2009
28 January 2009
4 February 2009
11 February 2009

Entries will open two months prior to the first event of each series. To make sure you are first in line to hear the breaking news on all Trail Series developments, visit the dedicated event website www.trailseries.co.za and register your email address today!

If you have any enquiries in this regard please email entries@trailseries.co.za or call Owen on 084 221 84 22.