Celtic Thursday Trail Contour Path Route

Name: Celtic Thursday Trail Contour Path Route
Start: 2025-12-25T18:00:00+02:00
End: 2025-12-25T19:30:00+02:00
Location: Newlands Forest

Schedule

Thu Dec 25 2025 at 06:00 pm to 07:30 pm

UTC+02:00

Location

Newlands Forest | Cape Town, WC

We will bring chilled Jack Black Beer to enjoy afterwards and ask that you contribute to the Volunteer Wildfire Volunteers - https://vws.org.za/vws-support/
On Thursday, 25 December 2025, we meet at Newlands Forest for the run to start at 18:00. We will run the Contour Path route.
Meet in the parking area at the Newlands forest Parks Board office / helipad / fire-base (the parking area is the main parking area off the M3 – 700 metres north of the big M3 / Blue Route intersection with Rhodes Drive / Newlands Avenue, and about 1.2kms south of the southern end of UCT).
We head up and left into Newlands Forest, initially following uphill jeep tracks for the first 2 km’s, before we reach a rusted sign pointing to “Contour Path”. We head up this attractive path which includes some steps and which will lead us up to the contour path. We then turn right heading along the contour path all the way to the turnstile below the blockhouse. As we reach the turnstile, we turn sharp right and head down a single track path, which after about 800 metres links up with the jeep track. This heads steadily down into Newlands Forest again, and back to the start.
Some characteristics of this run:
- The first 2.5 km’s are mainly steady uphill, with some steps, but all on great quality running surface.
- Once we reach the contour path, there are some technical rocky and stony sections along the contour path, particularly over the first km of this section. But most of it thereafter is 3-4kms of easy level running all the way to the turnstile below the blockhouse.
- Some sections of the run take place on boardwalks which can be slippery when wet. Please take care on this section!
- When we turn down from the turnstile, the initial 800 metre downhill section is uneven and technical – ankle-roll territory – so watch your footing here and walk if you need to.
- The rest is easy flowing; smooth running downhill to the finish.
Difficulty grading: 7.5/10
Distance is ±8 km’s.
Fast, Fast-Medium, Medium and Medium-slow pace options available, each with an experienced group leader to cater for different speeds, so provided you can run a flat 10kms in less than 65 minutes, there will be a group for you.
NB: PLEASE ALL DO YOUR BEST TO STAY IN YOUR GROUPS - MOST PARTICULARLY DO NOT RUN AHEAD OF YOUR GROUP LEADER. If you are new to the runs and unsure of the pace of the various groups, then rather run with a slower group initially.