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SkyRun 100 - Course Data, Elevation and Cutoffs

SkyRun 100 runs 99.2 km across the Witteberg range in South Africa's Eastern Cape, from Lady Grey to Wartrail Country Club, with 3,897 m of climbing and a 30-hour cutoff. It is self-supported and self-navigated: the route is unmarked, and runners follow a GPS track they load themselves.

Course profile

Next edition
Sat 14 Nov 2026 · 04:00
Distance
99.2 km
Elevation gain
3,897 m
Elevation loss
4,505 m
Highest point
Avoca Peak (2,723 m)
Cutoff
30h
Typical winning time
~13h

The defining feature is not the climbing but the navigation. Nothing is marked, and the field spreads out across open mountain from the first climb to the Tower at 6.6 km; a wrong line off Avoca Peak, the high point at 2,723 m, costs hours rather than minutes. The Dragon's Back is a ridgeline barely three metres wide with steep ground on both sides, and The Wall climbs 400 m in 2.5 km. Balloch, at 56.3 km, is the only place a crew may meet a runner and one of only two bag-drop points - the other is the finish - so the 43 km from there to Wartrail are run alone with whatever is in the pack. Eleven checkpoints carry their own cutoffs, tightening through the night. The figures here come from the organiser's own pace chart, which is the only source that publishes per-checkpoint climbing; the race page quotes an approximate 4,500 m and ITRA lists 4,730 m, and that gap is unresolved.

Data is approximate and courses change between editions - always verify against the official race guide.

Enter a goal finish time and see estimated arrivals vs checkpoint cutoffs.

Plan against barriers

Course math

Three numbers worked out from this course's distance, elevation and checkpoints.

UTMB Index category

100K

138 km-effort (distance + gain ÷ 100). Calculated from the course figures, not an official classification.

Estimate your UTMB Index →

Biggest climb section

+799 m

Lady Grey → CP1 Tower · km 0–6.6

The largest gain between two checkpoints, not one continuous climb.

Biggest descent section

−742 m

CP9 Halstone Peak → Finish - Wartrail Country Club · km 94–99.2

The largest loss between two checkpoints. ITRA's km-effort ignores descent; TrailMath counts it: 168 km-effort.

Open in GPX Explorer →

SkyRun 100 · 2025

Who finished, 2025 edition

141 runners finished this edition.

The organiser published no finish times we can stand behind for this edition, so this page publishes the counts alone: how many finished, who they were and where they came from. No average and no median appears anywhere below, because we hold none worth quoting.

The start line

Men and women

Men

107 finishers, 76% of the field

Women

34 finishers, 24% of the field

Finishers by age group

Every bar is a finisher count, drawn against the largest group. Men and women are on the same scale, so the two can be read against each other.

Men 107 finishers
Finishers by age group, Men, SkyRun 100 2025.
Age Finishers Finishers
Open 47
Vet 37
Master 15
Grand Master 6
Unknown 2
Women 34 finishers
Finishers by age group, Women, SkyRun 100 2025.
Age Finishers Finishers
Open 13
Vet 13
Master 6
Grand Master 1
Unknown 1

The shaded row is the biggest group.

Where the finishers came from

96% of the finishers came from South Africa alone.

Nation Finishers Share
South Africa ZA 136 96.5%
Zambia ZM 2 1.4%
United Kingdom GB 1 0.7%
Russia RU 1 0.7%
Eswatini SZ 1 0.7%

Bar length is against the largest nation. The smallest counts are drawn at a minimum visible width, so their bars are not to scale.

Edition by edition

Every edition we have recomputed in full, newest first. The course, the weather and the field change from year to year, so a slower edition is not a harder one.

Edition Distance run Starters Finishers Finish rate Median finish
2025 Latest 99.2 km - 141 -
-
2024 99.2 km - 125 -
25:34:00
How these numbers were computed

The counts, the gender split, the age groups and the nations are computed from the full official result list. The finish times in that same list are not consistent with each other, so we publish none of them rather than a figure we would have to hedge. Bands with only a handful of finishers move a lot from one edition to the next.

Nationality here shows who travels to this race, not who runs it best. That alone is why a host nation tops almost every list.

Computed from the full official results, verified September 16, 2026 - Official results

Talk to your race

Ask SkyRun 100 anything about climbs, pacing, crew or cutoffs.

Which climb should I respect most?

Coach From course data

Lady Grey to CP1 Tower: +799 m over 6.6 km, straight from the gun. Hike the steep sections at an effort you could hold for hours - the race is decided after this climb, not on it.

Where can my crew meet me?

Coach From course data

CP6 Balloch, km 56.3 - your only crew point. Have them bring warm layers: the course tops out at 2,723 m, through the night, in November.

Is 25h a realistic finish for me?

Coach Uses your plan + training

25h leaves 5h inside the 30h cutoff. It means holding 15:07/km overall.

Your long runs peak at 30 km, so the plan builds to 4-hour long runs, two of them at night. Cutoff buffer at CP5 Skidaw: 10 min.

To answer this for you, the Coach uses your training and your race plan.

Weekly volume Long runs Vertical gain Target effort

Example answer

Your long runs peak at 30 km, so the plan builds to 4-hour long runs, two of them at night. Cutoff buffer at CP5 Skidaw: 10 min.

Build my SkyRun 100 plan

14 days of Premium included.

Try asking SkyRun 100

Build my SkyRun 100 plan

See your training shape

Pick your weekly volume and training days to preview the plan structure - no account needed.

Weekly training volume
Training days per week

~8 weeks · peak ~8 h/week · 5 run + 2 strength days

Plan phases
Base
Build
Peak
Taper
Weekly volume
Typical peak week
LongQualityStrengthStrengthEasy

For a 99.2 km race, aim for about 12 h/week at peak. Set your availability to 14 h/week in the app for the headroom to build there gradually.

Typical structure for your volume - your live plan adjusts sessions inside each week.

Make this your plan

Create your free account to generate the full week-by-week plan and adapt it with your coach.

Aid stations and checkpoints

Checkpoint Km Cumulative gain (m) Cumulative loss (m) Cutoff Crew Drop bag
Start - Lady Grey 0 0 0 - No No
CP1 Tower 6.6 799 86 Sat 06:00 No No
CP2 Olympus 18.8 1,372 625 Sat 09:00 No No
CP3 Snowden 29.6 1,795 871 Sat 11:30 No No
CP4 Avoca 39.9 2,239 1,175 Sat 14:00 No No
CP5 Skidaw 47.1 2,447 1,716 Sat 16:30 No No
CP6 Balloch (in) 56.3 2,599 2,368 Sat 19:00 Yes Yes
CP6 Balloch (out) 56.7 2,614 2,396 Sat 20:00 Yes Yes
CP7 Edgehill 66.4 2,837 2,995 Sun 00:00 No No
CP8 The Turn 82.3 3,408 3,237 Sun 06:00 No No
CP9 Halstone Peak 94 3,708 3,763 Sun 08:00 No No
Finish - Wartrail Country Club 99.2 3,897 4,505 Sun 10:00 Yes Yes

Data is approximate and courses change between editions - always verify against the official race guide. Source: official race guide, verified September 16, 2026 - Official race website

FAQ

How long is SkyRun 100?

SkyRun 100 covers 99.2 km (about 62 miles) point to point, from Lady Grey to Wartrail Country Club across the Witteberg range in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

How much elevation gain does SkyRun 100 have?

The organiser's checkpoint table gives 3,897 m of cumulative climbing and 4,505 m of descent, finishing around 600 m below the start. The race page quotes an approximate 4,500 m and ITRA lists 4,730 m, so treat any figure here as approximate.

What is the cutoff time for SkyRun 100?

The overall cutoff is 30 hours from the 04:00 start on Saturday 14 November 2026, finishing at 10:00 on the Sunday. Eleven intermediate cutoffs apply, from 2 hours at the Tower (6.6 km) to 28 hours at Halstone Peak (94 km).

Is SkyRun 100 marked?

No. SkyRun is self-navigated: the route is unmarked and runners follow GPS tracks and waypoints supplied with entry, loaded onto their own devices. It is also self-supported, so runners carry their own food and water between checkpoints.

Where can crew meet runners at SkyRun 100?

Balloch, at 56.3 km, is the only point where seconding is allowed, and the organiser runs a shuttle for crew in and out of the farm. Bag drops go to Balloch and the finish only. There is no cell reception at Balloch or at the finish.

How many people finish SkyRun 100?

141 runners finished the 2025 edition and 125 finished in 2024. The organiser publishes no starter count, so a finish rate cannot be stated.

What is the average SkyRun 100 finish time?

Across the 125 finishers of the 2024 edition the median finish time was 25:34:00 - half the field took longer than that - while the average was 25:13:33. Men and women finished within four minutes of each other at the median. The organiser published no usable finish times for the 2025 edition, so that year is shown as counts only.

Training for this race?

TrailMath builds periodized trail training plans around your goal race.

One Strava connection reads your last 90 days and estimates your finish on this course. Free, no plan needed.