The race takes place over two days, the first day features a prologue and the second the main event.
The prologue is a short five kilometre run on similar terrain and technicality as the race itself. Completion of the prologue is part of the Otter event and it functions in the seeding process for the main run.
This demanding run crosses four rivers all of which involve getting your feet wet and the third river, the infamous Bloukrans River, crossing involves a swim. The trail features eleven significant climbs with at least three higher than 100 metres. The total elevation gain over the route is over 2,600 metres. Some of these climbs are steep enough to force even the strongest runners to walk and in many places it is stepped.