Cape Point Challenge Qualifying times

Am I correct that to qualify for the CPC, one must finish within 125% of the average time of the first 4 finishers in a qualifying 35km race. If the likes of Dawid, Jasper, Sean etc etc are in the same qualifying race, this is an almighty tough ask.

If I compare this to qualifying for the Comrades marathon - to qualify, one must run a full marathon within 5 hours. If I look at the last Cape Town marathon, the average time of the first 4 runners was 2h20, so if I apply the same formula as the CPC, the qualifying time would be 2h55 and not the 5 hours as allowed.

The CPC is one tough race to qualify for!

Yes, that's right - its a tough ask.

The good news is that the top guys don't all compete in each qualifier each year. Also I've heard that some of the guys who do compete take it a little bit easier sometimes.

But it is a tough ask - ask our group about how qualifying went last year, right?

Ok, Ric, so how did qualifying go?

Ric wrote: Yes, that's right - its a tough ask.

The good news is that the top guys don't all compete in each qualifier each year. Also I've heard that some of the guys who do compete take it a little bit easier sometimes.

But it is a tough ask - ask our group about how qualifying went last year, right?

haha

I sat it out last year - this will be my first year.

Qualifiers last year were in terrible weather, so I slept in and wished the competitors good luck

On race day, the way the Cape Point Challenge works is that the paddlers are sent off in batches, with the slower paddlers first.

The aim is to have everyone arrive at Cape Point at roughly the same time to maximise safety. They don't want a spread-out field all along the west coast - get everyone around the Point together and into the safety of False Bay.

So the qualifiers are simply a way of making sure that everyone is a) capable of paddling 35km (ie can get to and around the Point which is roughly 25km from the start) and well into the bay and b) can do so in reasonable time.

So that's the rational - and it does sound like a big ask to get within 125% of the elite paddlers' time at race speed. But, in my experience, there are a) seldom any of the elite paddlers in the qualifiers (they're already qualified by virtue of international races, etc) and b) even if there are, they aren't paddling flat out.

So while the qualifiers are important and realistic, if you can't make it, you really should ask yourself whether you should be in the race - and that's the point really.

With you Rob. It was the thought of elite paddlers going flat out that worried me.