AJ Calitz won the 65 km race in 7:46:11. Pedro Calderon (Spain) was second in 8:30:49. Ngubane was third in 8:36:41, followed by Nic de Beer in 8:44:26, Roux in 8:50:56 and the former South African road cycling captain, Jock Green, in 9:09:57.

By finishing third Ngubane made sure that he will represent South Africa at the 2016 Trail World Championships in Portugal. There is also a good chance that Roux will be selected for the South African B Team that will represent South Africa at a race in France.

When Ngubane and Roux speak about their race experiences the words 'bitterly cold' are used frequently.

According to Ngubane, it was so cold when he reached the top of Table Mountain that he could not run anymore.

'The only way I was able to keep on moving forward was by walking, which led to me slipping back from second overall to the fourth place. Luckily I realised that there were still enough kilometres left to catch up with some of the front runners, so I did not panic.

'After about 55 kilometres I felt sufficiently warm to start running again, which enabled me to get back into the top three.'

Roux described the weather conditions as tricky from the start.

'It started raining before the race even started, which meant you immediately had to make an important decision – do you start running with or without a rain jacket? The problem of running with a jacket is that your body can overheat within a few kilometres and that could cost you the race.

'I started running with the jacket, but after about three kilometres I felt sufficiently warm to take it off.

'The real fun started when we got to the top of Table Mountain. It felt as if we were running in ice rain. Some runners thought it was hail. It was so cold that your hands started to freeze, making it difficult to move your fingers. That was when I decided to run with the jacket again.'
According to Roux, Calitz dominated the race to such an extent that the real battle was always for the second place.

'At the top of Table Mountain I was in second place for a while but then Nic (de Beer) attacked during one of the tricky, slippery and technical descents. We managed to catch up with him again but towards the end Nic made the most of his 'home boy' advantage by accelerating on another technical descent.

'I take my hat off for the way Eric managed to recover and fight his way back to a third-place finish.

'I think the times we all ran prove how tough the race conditions were. My time was about two hours slower than the time I had run at Comrades, and remember, the trail run was 20 kilometres shorter.'