Otter 2025: remembering why I love running

Our former team mate and good friend Joshua Nuttall recently participated in the Otter African Trail Run along the Garden Route. Here are some of his post-race thoughts…

It’s rather bizarre to think that I have run the Otter Trail three times.

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have danced and crawled on the magical trail. Each of my runs has been different and this year’s one was the best yet.

In 2023 I surprised myself with my Challenge performance. 2024, I raced the race in the inferno of a day we had. It was a brutal day out, but after a cold beer I was able to take in the joy of the weekend. It’s always special.

My initial plan had been to run the 2025 version of the Otter with my fiancée. The year had other plans for us though, and some knee trouble kept Gina off the trails. We’ll run it together one day though!

This meant I had to change my motivation for running this year. Deciding if I would race properly or if I would just enjoy the day… It was a turbulent build up to the month before Otter. A new job, health challenges, and if I am truly honest a very low motivation to train hard. I was enjoying being outdoors, but I could not muster up the motivation to drill my legs and lungs on the stairs on the side of Coetzenberg Mountain that I had become well acquainted with over the prior two years as I prepared.

Besides Strava, the people closest to you are the ones who truly know how little or hard you have trained. I trained significantly less than usual and I had a fair number of nerves the weekend before the race.

In the week leading up to the race, I started thinking about how I was going to run. I even toyed with the idea of running without a watch, running purely on feeling and letting the trail speak to me. I eventually landed on a blended approach and the result was that I had one of the best days of running I have had in a very very long time!

There is something about this coast line, it has a mystical feeling as you move along it. Emerging from the forest you are greeted with views down the coast that make you feel like you are floating.

As a runner and a creative thinker, I am familiar with the feeling of flow. Often we try to force ourselves into this state, but most of the time we discover its true essence when we just let things naturally unfold and don’t force what is right in front of us. Being in the now allows for this.

This year, I still managed to race the Otter. However, I did it in a way that flowed. I let the trail speak to me, not the pressure of my watch and chasing a sub-five-hour run. One day I’ll get there, it is possible.

As I write and reflect on the run that Otter was, I am drawn to the closing moments of the race. Ones that Gina and I experienced with the biggest crowds of the day even while the Springboks played. These are people who aren’t captured by big media. They are there to watch the pros, they are the ones whose presence we feel.

Immense gratitude to the team from EasyEquities for the opportunity to run with you all again. To Carel and Rikus, being welcomed across the line by good friends is something that makes this race special. To Gina, thanks for making the adventure up the coast again!

Otter 2025 reminded me why I love running.