Smit says the attacker’s partner was above the pair, but ran off when he saw his buddy was getting roughed up.

“He begged me not to hurt him or break parts of his body when I had him held against a massive tree.”

“For some reason, I managed to take his shoes off and threw them in different directions. I think I was trying to make him as vulnerable as possible before I let him go,” Smit said.

After he let the attacker go, he realised his leg was badly injured and managed to get himself to the nearest Mediclinic facility.

Smit says that just before the attack he ran past a ‘dodgy looking guy’ who might have been a lookout for the thugs hoping to rob a cyclist or runner. Despite hearing about several incidents on the slopes of the mountain last year, Smit says he did not think it would ever happen to him.

“I don’t know where the strength came from, but I was not going to let anything fatal happen to me, so I put up a fight as best I could.