The route starts with a run to the well-known Open Mine Museum area and through the ‘old’ streets of Kimberley. There is a long and testing climb to the site of OMV Crushers on the Cape Town Road to where the real ‘battle’ begins. The course takes on a charm of its own as it rolls through a game farm on a gravel road, the ostriches silently watch from a safe distance. But it is the quarry that brings the mind sharply into focus. Here the battle of the race is lost, or won. The descent to the bottom is steep and you must watch your footing.

It is the climb out that presents a stern and yet unique test. Bite down hard, and climb. Once out of the quarry the main work is done. There is still the 16 kilometre journey back into town, now on tired ‘quarry legs’. Do not get too complacent for just when you think of the green grass of home there is a nasty two kilometre hill to test the strength of your resolve. Both the half marathon and 10 kilometre event are run on the same route.