Trail Running · Western Cape

🇿🇦Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100 km:
Course Analysis & Race Readiness

A 99 km ultra with 4,279 m of gain and 4,283 m of loss across 19 climbs and 14 descents. Nearly half the course points downhill, demanding relentless descending strength on legs already worn by climbing.

CourseRecon scores your own training against the descending and durability demands that define Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100 km — the sample analysis below shows exactly how.

99.2 km

Distance

+4,280 m

Vertical Gain

−4,280 m

Total Descent

Nov 21, 2026

Next Edition · 129 days out

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The Course · GPS-Measured

What 99.2 km / 61.6 mi and 4,280 m / 14,040 ft of vertical gain actually look like

Measured from the GPS track: 99.2 km / 61.6 mi and 4,280 m / 14,040 ft of vertical gain. This is the terrain you're signing up for: read it before it reads you.

Course Profile

Terrain summary

Claimed vs GPS-Measured

Claimed · Organizer

99.2km

Distance

+4,280m

Gain

−0.0 km+0 m

GPS-Measured

99.2km

Distance

+4,280m

Gain

Climb & Gradient

+4,280 mTotal Gain

−4,280 mTotal Loss

Gradient Distribution

27%

Flat

≤3% grade

27%

Run-Climb

3–15% up

Steep Climb

>15% up

39%

Descent

downhill

Steepest Sustained Sections

Descent

KM 37.0–41.5 · −700 m

-15.5%

Climb

KM 19.6–22.1 · +321 m

+12.7%

Climb

KM 88.7–91.8 · +346 m

+11.1%

Climb

KM 57.4–61.6 · +443 m

+10.5%

Finish & Cutoff Times

What it takes to finish

Reference finish times from past results — use them to set a realistic goal pace.

11h 05m

Winning time

12h 11m

Top 5

12h 35m

Top 10

26h 00m

Back of pack

What This Race Demands

Four things this course asks of your body

Every course weights the four pillars of mountain-ultra fitness differently. Descending carries 45% of the scoring weight on this course — the terrain makes that the deciding factor.

Weighting shows where readiness is won or lost at this distance — not whether you need each pillar. An aerobic base is a given for a race this long, so it carries little deciding weight even though it's essential — the gaps open on the climbs, descents and the back half.

AerobicSustained engine

Foundational

Sustained output across 99 km with 4,279 m of cumulative climbing over many hours of effort.

ClimbingVertical power

20%

Nineteen climbs totaling 4,279 m, including a 607 m ascent and pitches steeper than 12%.

DescendingEccentric / braking

45%

14 descents shedding 4,283 m, with 45% of the course downhill and one 700 m plunge.

DurabilityLate-race resilience

36%

Late climbs above km 88 test legs already loaded by thousands of meters of pounding.

The Profile in One Line

Ninety-nine kilometers of near-balanced gain and loss, with descending dominant and climbing steep and repeated throughout.

Aerobic FoundationalClimbing 20%Descending 45%Durability 36%

Here's how CourseRecon reads a course and an athlete

Sample Readiness Analysis

What a readiness result looks like for this course

This is a worked example for a representative strong mountain-ultra athlete — not your score. Connect your own training and the same analysis runs on you.

Sample

OUT OF 100

READY

For a representative strong mountain-ultra athlete

This is a sample — connect your Strava to see your own result.

Pillar Breakdown

Aerobic

The 99 km distance and 4,279 m of gain place this firmly in ultra territory, requiring steady aerobic delivery over many hours without spikes.

Climbing

100

Nineteen climbs stack up 4,279 m, with a single 607 m ascent and very-steep gradients covering 12.6% of the course, demanding strong, repeatable uphill power.

Descending

With 45% of the course pointing down and 4,283 m to lose across 14 descents, including a 700 m drop, quadriceps must absorb heavy, repeated eccentric loading.

Durability

Climbing and descending never let up, and steep pitches persist past km 88, so the course rewards legs that resist damage over the full distance.

km 37–41

The 700 m Plunge

A 6.7 km descent losing 700 m at a punishing -15.5% grade hammers the quads early. Managing this drop protects the legs needed for the descents still to come.

km 58–62

The Big Climb

A 5.9 km ascent gaining up to 607 m at roughly 10.5% arrives past halfway. Sustained climbing power here comes at the cost of accumulating fatigue.

km 89–92

Late Steep Ascent

A 346 m climb at 11.1% near km 89 forces steep uphill effort on heavily fatigued legs. This is where durability decides who holds pace to the finish.

That was a sample