THE GENESIS OF THE
FOUR PEAKS MOUNTAIN CHALLENGE
Derek Odendaal was the man with the vision who first started with the idea of hosting a mountain race over the peaks of Moolmanshoek. It was essentially intended to be a similar type of race to the Skyrun, but much shorter and less extreme – something that ordinary people and mountain hikers could also participate in. Derek was involved as a marshal on the Skyrun from 1999 and realised that mountain running was going to become popular and that was even before "trail running" became the new buzzword.
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Derek and Herman Fourie first came to explore the route over the peaks of Moolmanshoek in April 2002 to see if such a race would work, how long it should take, and also to capture the route. Their findings were very positive, and it was then also decided to call the race the Four Peaks Mountain Challenge. The four peaks are the Pyramid1, Pyramid 2, Jacobsberg and Sikonyella's Hat, all of which can be seen prominently from Moolmanshoek's buildings.
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The first event was then organized by Derek and took place on September 28, 2002. He engaged some of his hiking friends and Mountain Club members to act as "marshals" and help with the presentation, while Moolmanshoek was eager and willing to host and assist with such an event. There were 48 entrants and 42 finished the race. The men's winner was Andrew Forsyth in 3 hours, 59 min, while women's winner, Sara Mills, finished in 6 hours, 2 mins. The entry fee was R90.
In 2003 there were 76 participants and in 2004 already 105 participants. Subsequently, the number of participants was limited to reduce the impact on the environment. However, the race became so popular that more participants had to be allowed, and in 2007 there were 150 participants.
In 2005, the first woman managed to finish the race in less than 4 hours. It was Ina van Tonder in 3 hours 55 min 10 sec. It took another two years for the first man to finish the race in less than 3 hours. In 2007, Bruce Arnett and Izaac Mazibuko arrived at the finish line together in 2 hours 57 min and 45 seconds.
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Derek and his helpers organized and ran the race seven times, after which he approached Adrian Saffi in 2008 to take over the race, which was then done from 2009 under the banner of Pure Adventures. From the start, Derek believed the Four Peaks was going to become another classic and very popular mountain race. Not only did that turn out to be true but it also earned the status as one of South Africa’s most iconic trail running events.
In 2024, this race is returning to its roots with the skilled and able team of Moolmanshoek taking over full reins of the event to steer it to new heights and to reignite the true spirit of unadulterated mountain running.
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