Merrell Hobbit Trail Runs

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Merrell Hobbit Trail Runs

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Run the beautiful mountains and forest of the Amathola trail in the Eastern Cape! 🌿

06/11/2026

Most Hobbiters seem to arrive here because somebody else started talking.

After a long run.
Over coffee.
In the car home.

Usually with enough detail about Hogsback that the idea hangs around longer than expected.
Then, at some point, you enter.

So we want to know. Who first told you about Hobbit?
And what did they say that made you think, perhaps rather unwisely, that you should come and see for yourself?

04/11/2026

Every year, with the assistance of the Cape Parrot Project crew, we put real time and money into clearing the Amathole Trail and maintaining the day hiking routes around Hogsback. Those paths get walked by a lot more than runners, and for a lot longer than one weekend in April.

So we asked the village for help. Six Hogsback establishments have agreed to pay five percent of your race weekend bill into a Trail Maintenance Hoggy Bank, if you book directly with them. No booking site takes a cut. No commission leaves town.

Maple Grove in Hogsback Accommodation. Organic Origins Hogsback. Trengwainton Hogsback Self Catering. Hogsback Gwala Gwala. Away With the Fairies Hogsback. The Edge Mountain Retreat.

Book with them directly, and when you do, thank them.

30/10/2026

Friday evening in Hogsback. ✨🌙
The Hobbit 90 runners have been out since morning.
And just as sensible people begin thinking about dinner, another group puts on headlamps and heads into the forest.

The Hobbit 8 Night Run. 🦉
Eight kilometres around the village and trails after dark. Headlamps through the trees. Friends running together.
Children discovering that a familiar forest becomes something quite different once the sun has gone down.
And, being Hogsback, we make no promises about what else might be out there. 😉

The Night Run opens the lighter side of the Hobbit weekend.
A little dark.
A little strange.
And a very good excuse to begin the weekend in the forest.

Friday 30 April 2027.
Bring a headlamp. The rest belongs to the forest.

🔗 Enter online: hobbitrun.co.za

27/10/2026

There are things we organise for Hobbit.
Start times.
📍 Routes.
🚌 Buses.
🍌 Food.
⤴️ Signs.
Then there is the weather.

The weather does not attend planning meetings. April in the Amatholes can give you forest light and clear views.
It can also give you mist, rain, cold, mud and a fairly quick reminder that the mountain was not consulted about your preferred race conditions.

We plan carefully.
We watch forecasts.
We communicate what runners need.
And then, to some extent, we work with whatever arrives.

That unpredictability has always been part of Hobbit. Come prepared for the conditions you hope for. Pack for the ones you don’t. ⛰️ The mountain gets a vote.

22/10/2026

There are other residents of these forests.
Some of them have been here rather longer than the runners. 🦜

The Cape Parrot Project has been part of the deeper Hobbit story for years, because our relationship with the Amatholes should extend beyond the few days we spend running through them.

It is also why every 42km and 90km finisher receives a sapling instead of a medal, and leaves it behind. The Cape Parrot Project plants and nurtures each one at Kettlespout. Come back in fifty years and run under them. 🌳

Hobbit depends on this place.
Its indigenous forest.
Its old trees.
Its wildlife.
And the people doing the patient work of looking after what remains.

Over the months ahead, we will share more about the Cape Parrot Project and the stewardship work connected to Hobbit. Not as something separate from the race. As part of understanding where we are lucky enough to run.

19/10/2026

Mnyameni. Where sitting down is allowed.

Ninety kilometres is a long way to go without stopping. Fortunately, the Hobbit 90 gives you 36 hours to complete the journey from Maden Dam to Hogsback, with the option of resting at Mnyameni Hut along the way.

Runners can stop for a meal, a little warmth and a few minutes off their feet.
Others may decide that sleeping is an entirely sensible thing to do before continuing, and some will keep moving through the night.

There is no single way to complete the Hobbit 90. Just remember that if you do sit down, you’ll eventually have to get up again.

📆 Friday, 30 April 2027
hobbitrun.co.za

📸 Anja Aucamp Photography Damien Schumann

Merrell SA

16/10/2026

Darryn Birch finished the Hobbit 90 this year. Thirty-two hours on the Amathole Trail, then an armchair and people who actually wanted to know how he was doing.

💬 In his words:

“Personally, I think the vibe at the finish was quite lekka. We were almost made to feel like celebrities. There was quite a fuss made, which was cool. Not that I like being made a fuss of, but it was cool to see people so happy to see you and genuinely caring about your wellbeing after a 32-hour slog.” ❤️

12/10/2026

🧭 This is the line. Maden Dam to Hogsback. The long way.

The Hobbit 90 is a point-to-point journey along the original Amathole Hiking Trail.
It begins at Maden Dam, makes its way through the forests and mountains of the Amatholes, and eventually finds its way to Hogsback. Daylight becoming darkness for many runners.

At about 55km is Mnyameni, where you can stop for a rest before continuing. How long you spend at this hut is between you, your legs and the remaining hours.

The finish is waiting in Hogsback. There will be somewhere to sit. You have 36 hours to get there.

📆 Friday, 30 April 2027
Route information and entries: hobbitrun.co.za

08/10/2026

You spend enough time in the Amatholes and eventually the yellowwoods start to feel like part of the company.

Some are enormous.
Some stand quietly beside the trail while generations of hikers and runners pass underneath them.

On race weekend, it can be easy to look down.
Roots. Rocks. Mud. Feet. The immediate business of getting yourself from here to there. Every now and then, look up. 👀

The forest was here long before Hobbit arrived, and our weekend only makes sense because we are allowed to move through it. This is one of the reasons we keep coming back.

Not just for the running.
For these old trees, this forest and the strange privilege of being very small amongst it all.

Forest field notes from the Amatholes.

05/10/2026

Why 90 kilometres? Because that is where the trail goes.

The Hobbit 90 was never designed around a nice round number. It follows the original Amathole Hiking Trail from Maden Dam to Hogsback.
That line through the Amatholes is the reason for ninety.

Not almost one hundred.
Not a shorter version of something else.
Not an arbitrary number added to make things sound harder.
Just the old trail, from one end to the other.

There will be sections you run. There will almost certainly be sections where hiking starts to seem like a remarkably sensible idea. There will be forest, open mountain, darkness for many, Mnyameni along the way, and eventually Hogsback.

Ninety kilometres because that is what the trail asks of you.

The Hobbit 90 | Maden Dam to Hogsback | 36 hours
📆 Friday 30 April 2027
🔗 hobbitrun.co.za

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Hogsback

Website

http://hobbitrun.co.za/

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