Emily Djock

@georgemountainultratrail 100km—this day! 😮‍💨 I think the allure of ultras is that anything can happen. Inevitably you’re going to have some lows, but you just have to hope it’s net highs by the time the finish line comes around. 🏁 And shooo, this day! It brought 👏 the 👏 highs! I can attribute a lot of it to a solid training block guided by @flatrockendurance 🏃‍♀️ consistent strength with @meyerfelton_biokineticist 🏋️‍♀️ and starting to actually dial in my race day nutrition thanks to @openfuel and @carbon_endurance (and no longer panic buying random gels and gummy worms the day before). ⛽️🐛 But here are the intangibles that can’t be measured, that I think made all the difference: ❤️ A partner, selfless to a fault, who sacrificed his birthday (again) to crew me, who knows exactly what I need and when (in races and in life). 🥹 Friends whose eyes welled up and hugged me fiercely at the finish line. And my people from a far, who followed along all day, refreshing webpages, sending messages, holding thumbs (i.e. crossing fingers for the Yanks 🇺🇸🤞). ✨ One boundlessly talented friend in particular, whose creativity and storytelling captured all the memories that I could never articulate as richly, as poignantly. @becky_leighton 👟 A brand that I’m genuinely proud to represent, whose values I can stand behind and whose gear I trust implicitly. @thenorthfacesouthafrica 🇿🇦 Volunteers, supporters, and organisers who poured their heart into this event AND handed me a South African flag as I broke the tape. 😭 ⛰️ A beautiful and varied and challenging mountain range full of people doing what they love. Doing things for the ones they love, for strangers, for community. This is the indomitable spirit and collective magic of trail running. This is what it’s all about 🫶 🎥 @becky_leighton 📸 cover photo @clauds_robson #neverstopexploring @thenorthface_trail #mutbyutmb #utmbworldseries #meetyourextraordinary

🇸🇨 Island Heat & Technical Trails RunMag editor @paulingpen catches up with South African trail powerhouse @emdjock ahead of tomorrow’s Seychelles Nature Trail 2026. Coming off a massive 2025—including a dominant win at the Extreme Dodo Trail and a top spot at @georgemountainultratrail 100k—Em is the one to watch as the elite field takes on the rugged mountains and deep forests of Mahé. The Game Plan: • Beat the Heat: Em notes the Seychelles humidity is a step above Mauritius. Her secret? Salt tabs and electrolytes are non-negotiable to avoid the cramps • Technical Grip: With slippery rocks and steep climbs, she’s sticking with her trusted, high-grip North Face kit. • Race Mode: Despite the tropical drain, Em is ready to switch it on when the gun goes off tomorrow morning. Follow along as we bring you more interviews and highlights from the race! #seychelles #seeseychelles #seychellesisland #seychellesnaturetrail #trailrunning

Island vibes and jungle boogies 🌴 It’s been a pinch-me experience and multi-sport trip so far with snorkelling, swimming, (rum tasting… counts, right?) beach runs, and a little trail dress rehearsal. And tomorrow’s the big dance at @seychellestrail for this groovy troupe! 🕺💃 🎬 @oakpics 🏝️✈️🧂⛽️👟🏨🙏 @tourismseychelles @bigambitionsza @avanibarbaronsseychelles @airseychelles_hm @get.revive @thenorthfacesouthafrica @openfuel

🌴 Mahé, Seychelles 🌴 This weekend we’ve traded tar for trails, swapping the everyday for something a little wilder. We’re on the beautiful island of Mahé alongside a field of South Africa’s most prominent fast (and fashionable) runners gearing up for the Seychelles Nature Trail. This race isn’t just a postcard, it’s a proper adventure. Lush tropical forest. Rugged mountain ridgelines. Coastal singletrack that drops you into views you’ll struggle to put into words. Add the island hospitality and a course built to test the legs, and you’ve got one of those races that lingers long after the finish line. Paradise on one side, pain cave on the other. Stay tuned, we’ve got plenty more coming your way all weekend. 🏝️🏃‍♂️ 📸@oakpics #seychellesisland #seychellesnaturetrail #seychelles🌴 #mahe #trailruning

The @totalsportstwooceansmarathon ultra in 2018 was my first big race in South Africa, a few months after we moved back from the Netherlands (yoh, hills!) Visa application still crawling through the Home Affairs process, I teared up standing on that start line, amongst all the South Africans singing along to Shosholoza. This first experience of running culture and community in SA had me hooked. 🥹🇿🇦 8 years later, running for me looks a bit different (mostly just better kitted and fueled thanks to @thenorthfacesouthafrica and @openfuel 🙏) But in so many ways it's the same. Same passion, same gees, same good people. And a few weeks ago, the same finish line on the University of Cape Town rugby field. TOM Trail Race was a fun and fast Friday morning loop in the backyard, home in time for the first meetings of the workday. Special to be part of the festivities, and to run through the big TOM finish arch that’s seen so much grit over the years. Including that first finish for me back in 2018 - cheesing hard, rocking the Casio watch (don’t sue me Jetline Photo!) 😆← literally this emoji... So inspired by this celebration of running that sweeps the city each April ✨

What a good hoek!! ⛰️ Wow! Wow! Nestled into a little corner of Wellington, in the elbow of Bain’s Kloof Pass, @pass2passultratrail_ has unlocked something exceptional. A launchpad from which to explore the surrounding Drakenstein Mountains (or is it the Hawequa, or Limietberg, or all of these…?! drop a comment, peeps!) These mountains, whatever they go by, are simply remarkable! I’ve explored some bits in the past, hikes and camps near Bain’s Kloof Pass, but the immersion experienced during this ultra gives me goosebumps when I think back to it. ☺️ Flowy trails in the pre-dawn, climbing ~700m up to the first peak at Groenberg. A cruisy ridgeline run, just as the first light hit the horizon. Vineyards, forests, crags, and koppies. Alpine-like switchbacks along the aptly-named Cliffhanger. A brutal loop up, down, and around Krom River Dome on scrambly rock and seldom-trodden trails. And all along, so many pockets of complete remoteness and stop-in-your tracks beauty (but also, like, don't stop, it's a race). A bit of everything and so so cup-filling. 💛 62km...er 66km+ of quintessential Western Cape mountain running (woe, when the GPX tells you 62km and your watch says 67km!) Going in, I was apprehensive. I watched a pre-race interview of myself, and thought, “ugh, I seem so unenthusiastic” - which I was not! I just wasn’t sure how “the body would show up” as people tend to say. But it did show up! I felt smooth and controlled and had so much fun. A reminder to back myself a bit more. And the perfect season opener to gauge where I’m at, and build on this for some big goals coming later in the year. 👀 The stats: 🦵 1x weekly focused bio session with @meyerfelton_biokineticist leading up to the race 🫶 🧃 7x @openfuel drink mix ⛽️ 6x @openfuel gels 🐛 Handfuls of sour gummies 👟Fresh Enduris 4s in citrus rust-calacatta 🍊 these new @thenorthfacesouthafrica @thenorthface_trail colourways 😍😮‍💨 🐕 Lots of kisses from Kia before I showered the salt off my legs 📸 1 - @zaczinn 2 - @fahwaaz_c 3&4 - @ack_sport_photography

I wrote this at the beginning of the year… felt a bit unsure about posting. And now, just after @pass2passultratrail_ is probably a weird time to share it—but it was part of the journey to Saturday’s finish line, and maybe more importantly, the start line. (Cas in the background: “not EVERYTHING is a journey!”😅) But if it was, it began 6 months ago with the end of CCC 100km. Real talk: I struggled after this race… though not right away. I got back to Cape Town in October last year, after a crazy, draining, but equally fulfilling few months of travel, training, work, family, and fun in Europe. And I rode some momentum for a while: Dove into life here. Ran the Cape Cobra Marathon. Entered UTCT 100km. And got in about 10 days of training… Then—it all caught up to me. Physically and mentally I was spent. My HRV plummeted, my period was weeks late (🚨), I had all sorts of niggles, caught a nasty bug, mood hovered below “meh” for a few weeks. I got my bloodwork done, in the hopes that it would reveal something that I could “easily” solve with a supplement. But no, my doctor emailed with the results, “I’m sorry, but your blood is perfect.” 😇 I had to accept, this was my body clearly trying to tell me, “you cannot have it all.” So I pulled back. I withdrew my UTCT entry. I kept up some running, but all unstructured, mostly social. I tried to be gentle to my body. Which can be tough when your reward system is calibrated for type-2 fun. It took a few months to feel like I was turning a corner… and I know this is a mere blip compared to the sorts of chronic stress- and fatigue-related conditions or injuries some people suffer. But it was an important lesson for me: The body isn't great at distinguishing kinds of stress. I’m just still working on how to best apply this lesson in my life. Because like good ol’ Liz Lemon, I’m primed to believe “I can do it! I can have it all!” Promise I’ll share a race report on P2P soon—for now, I'll say: it was the day I needed in many ways. Reigniting passion for racing, inspiring big-mountain awe, and giving me back a smidge of lost confidence in this body of which I demand a lot. ☺️🫶 📸 1 - @zaczinn 🎥 2 - @30rock

Leading from start to finish, Emily Djock not only wins Pass2Pass Ultra but also finishes third overall! A fantastic start to the season, congrats Em! 🥇07:58:43 Video by @maxsullimedia #Pass2Pass #P2PUltra

Lions Head runs and lion prides and wild dogs and one spoiled dog. A photo dump of goodness from the past few months. Golly! ✨🐕🛶🐾🦒🐘⛰️🦁🌊🦏🏃‍♀️💕 . . .

The 8 stages of Cederberg Backyard Ultra-ing 1️⃣ Curiosity - a midnight start, an unknown ~8km loop in the dark 🔦 2️⃣ Calibration - settling into the pace, appreciating the stillness of night 🌙 3️⃣ Anticipation - the last loop in total darkness… sunrise is coming‼️ 4️⃣ (Cold) disappointment - pre-dawn temp dip + rain, desperate for some sun 🥶 5️⃣ Delight - experiencing the trails anew in the light, joined by Cas on his first loop 🧡 6️⃣ Wired - that Red Bull kicking in! ⚡️ 7️⃣ Stockholm Syndrome - “omg I love this loop… ugh but this sun’s a bit hot” 🥵 8️⃣ Peace - 8 loops, exactly enough, right on plan ✌️ What a wild ride—and this was only half of the thing! But mostly, @cederberg_backyard_ultra was exactly what I needed back in early December (after a bumpy post-CCC period). A weekend in the Cederberg with Cas and mates and braais and swims and 62km of happy trails and—I don’t want to brag but—an honestly impressive amount of candy and @openfuel 🌈⛽️ backyard ultras are perfect high carb fuelling training camps. @barry_socks and @emile_johnty have brought to life an awesome vision, supporting a pretty awesome cause @sustainableceder and I can’t wait to come back to see how it grows 🌱 maybe even attempting the full 24 hours! 🌧️☀️🏜️ @thenorthfacesouthafrica for allll the conditions out there! 📸 the great @barry_socks

A year of fueling the journey. Some of our Open Fuel athletes shared their high and low fuel moments from this year with us. What were yours? Comment below 👇🏼. See you in 2026 for more carbs. #fuelthejourney

Pre-run-routine with @emdjock ! #fuelthejourney