An Ultra You've Never Heard Of...

When most people think of South African ultramarathons, the Comrades Marathon steals the spotlight. But hidden in the Eastern Cape is a gruelling, 161-kilometer gauntlet that predates the modern ultra-craze. Welcome to the Washie 100 Miler, the oldest road hundred-miler in Africa and arguably the most prestigious race entirely missing from mainstream athletic media.

The story begins in 1977 with the Buffalo Road Runners Club in East London. A small contingent of their members were already conquering Comrades and Two Oceans, but they hungered for something that would push the boundary even further, specifically, almost twice the distance. Club member Lionel Whitfield pitched the idea of a 160-kilometer memorial race to honour his father, Granville Washington Whitfield, known affectionately as "Washie." The concept took hold, giving birth to a uniquely South African tradition of sleep deprivation and endurance.

What truly sets the Washie apart in today's highly commercialized racing calendar is its complete lack of monetary reward. There is no massive winner’s cheque waiting at the finish line. Instead, every runner who survives the distance is awarded a special tracksuit top and a handcrafted wooden trophy.

For decades, these intricate wooden awards were shaped and finished by Washie veteran Jack Hugo, a tradition now carried on by the current Buffs Club Chairman, Craig Nelson. For anyone who understands the grain, tooling, and sheer time required to produce traditional handcrafted timber goods, that wooden trophy holds far more weight than a cash payout.

To even stand on the start line, the rules of engagement are incredibly strict. All athletes must run with a valid Athletics South Africa club license, and attendance at the Friday afternoon race briefing is absolutely mandatory for both the runner and their support crew captain. Missing the briefing means instant disqualification before the race even begins.

The logistics of the route are as formidable as the distance itself. Originally run along the punishing coastline from Port Alfred to East London, the modern iteration takes athletes point-to-point from the Cathcart Country Club down to the Buffs Club.

The starting gun fires at 17:00 on a Friday evening, plunging runners almost immediately into a freezing night. Navigating the plummeting temperatures around Stutterheim in the dead of night requires immense mental fortitude, with athletes relying entirely on the narrow beam of a headlamp. It is a strict 26-hour race against the clock. Competitors must hit the quarter-mark by 23:00 on Friday night and reach halfway by 06:00 on Saturday morning, or they are pulled from the course.

Survival out there is rarely a solo endeavour. The Washie is famous for its unique seconding culture, where runners are shadowed by support vehicles right through the darkness. These dedicated crews manage nutrition, gear changes, and psychological triage. While unsupported purists can run solo under strict mandatory gear protocols, the shared suffering between a runner and their seconding team is the true heartbeat of the event.

A crucible like this naturally forges its own kind of legends. Because of the sheer brutality of the event, you won't see massive international fields, but rather a hardened core of local specialists.

Johan van der Merwe dominated the 2010s, securing five victories and clocking a staggering personal best of just over thirteen hours. In the 1980s and 90s, athletes like Manie Saayman and Cheryl Torr became fixtures on the podium, winning the event year after year. Rae Bischoff set an astonishing benchmark for the women’s field in 1998 with a sub-15-hour finish, while modern standard-bearers like Siyabonga Lele, who took back-to-back victories in 2023 and 2024, continue to prove that the spirit of the Washie is very much alive.