British ultrarunner Tom Evans has been mugged at knifepoint whereas coaching on the paths in South Africa.
The 31-year-old, who gained the Western States 100 earlier this 12 months, had been working alone on Desk Mountain when two males ambushed and attacked him.
Evans advised Athletics Weekly that he had fought again however stopped when one of many males produced a machete from his backpack.
‘As soon as the knife was at my throat, they made it very clear they might kill me if I carried on preventing so I ended,’ he stated.
‘They acquired my iPhone 15 after which took my Garmin watch – [collectively] price about £2500 – then went by way of my backpack pulling all the pieces out, asking how a lot issues have been price.’
Evans, who has solely not too long ago celebrated his one-year marriage ceremony anniversary to GB triathlete Sophie Coldwell, additionally had his marriage ceremony ring stolen, regardless of him pleading with the criminals to not take it.
Evans stated the pair then ran off, asking Evans to not comply with, so he headed again down off the contour path and down in direction of Rhodes Memorial and the college to report what occurred.
In an Instagram video, Evans introduced that he has withdrawn from subsequent weekend’s Extremely-Path Cape City 100K on account of the assault.
‘I’ve determined that, for me, for my well being, it is best to not race subsequent weekend,’ he stated.
‘Bodily my physique’s OK, I am fairly crushed up, I am extremely sore right now however I will be OK, however mentally it is simply attempting to recover from one thing like this, doing one thing that you just love, it simply appears so sudden and occurred so shortly.’
Organisers of the Extremely-Path Cape City occasion stated they’ve elevated safety deployments across the whole route of the race subsequent weekend, together with group police, personal safety, Metro Police and horseback patrols in sure areas.
In an announcement to AW, race director Stuart McConnachie stated: ‘Now we have the peace of mind of SANParks, the Metropolis of Cape City, SAPS and Metro Police that robust measures are in place for security on the paths. We proceed to work with them to speak considerations for runners and hikers, so we are able to all benefit from the unbelievable pure magnificence we’ve got on our doorstep.’