Cape Town - Endurance athlete Jamie Marais may be the only man to have summited Table Mountain 22 times in 28 hours.
He and his team are now in the process of submitting his achievement to the Guinness World Records to make the record official.
Marais believes he shattered world records when he climbed the 1 085 metre-tall mountain 22 times in 28 hours.
Saskia Marlowe from South African National Parks (SANParks) confirmed Marais and his team were on the mountain on August 24 and 25.
She said: “We issued the permit and he did run up and down the mountain during daylight hours over two days. He has set a benchmark on how many times you can run up and down the mountain during the specified time frame.”
The endurance athlete took on the challenge to inspire South Africans to believe in themselves and raise awareness and support for the Sabrina Love Foundation, which cares for children with special needs.
This is the first of four major challenges Marais will undertake this year.
“I am happy with this achievement and could not have done this without the help of the incredible team of support crew who volunteered on the day, and all of our partners.
“I suffered incredibly from the very first summit as I had been experiencing pain in my right ITB [Iliotibial Band] and hip flexor.
“From the first ascent I was literally limping across the top of Table Mountain to the cable car which shuttled me back down after each summit and, to be honest, I wasn’t even sure I would be able to complete more than five summits based on how extreme my pain was,” said Marais.
Despite the challenges he faced, he pushed on so he could make the country proud and raise awareness for a worthy cause.
Cape Argus