We flew out to Durban on Friday night, the day after I finally said goodbye to my job and the rat race altogether, landing Saturday morning to blazing sunshine and 25 degree temps.
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| View out over Durban Beach |
We hooked up with the boys at the hotel, had a couple of beers and then hit the Comrades expo to get them registered. The expo is a behemoth of running paraphernalia. As with all of the big city marathons you can get pretty much any running equipment you want plus a whole lot more but this was different.
I am not going to harp on about the event now, I'd rather leave that to people who've actually run it but you hear people talking about the spirit of Comrades and what makes it an extra special event. Up until last year I'd never considered it due to the cost of travelling to and from South Africa. It was predominantly Ian Sharman who convinced me it was absolutely worth the effort of getting out there and that it truly is the greatest race going. From what I witnessed it is more than just a race but rather a whole experience. 19000 people signed up this year and 5000 others like myself didn't make the start-line yet of those 14000 starters, only 4000 were first time runners.
Comrades is a road run between the cities of Durban and Pietmaritzburg. Each year the direction of the race changes. The down run comes from Pietmaritzburg back to Durban, this year was an up year with the course headed in the opposite direction. The distance was approx 87km with 5 major climbs and a total elevation gain of around 2000m. Bearing all that in mind there were some tremendous performances as always. Most notable for me:
Seeing Stephen Muzhingi finish in 5:32 an change for a hat trick of victories
Mike Wardian the US ultra and marathon runner, winner of the DC marathon the year I ran it, finish in 11th place in 5:51
Ian Sharman picking up his 5th Silver Medal in 6:25 despite feeling badly overtrained the day before and during the race
Ellie Greenwood finishing in 4th on her Comrades debut. With Lizzy Hawker not far behind the UK really are blessed with some of the top ultra runners in the world right now.
Almost as notable was seeing the Comrades final cut off gun go in real time. I've posted something similar before but it is a cut off like no other I have seen. To the second, the mayor turns his back and at 12:00:00 hours into the race, there is an absolute line between those who finish and those who quite literally finish a yard or second too late.
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Almost as notable was seeing the Comrades final cut off gun go in real time. I've posted something similar before but it is a cut off like no other I have seen. To the second, the mayor turns his back and at 12:00:00 hours into the race, there is an absolute line between those who finish and those who quite literally finish a yard or second too late.
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We flew to Cape Town the following morning and spent 5 days down at Cape Point and in the Winelands, getting up Table Mountain in the sunshine on the final day.
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| Above the clouds at table mountain |
I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone. The landscape down at the cape is phenomenal and the wildlife is incredible. Particularly stand out was the baboon who ran into the restaurant we were in at the Cape, jumped on the table and snatched a bread roll before heading back out of the door.
I'll be back to run Comrades and I hope to be lucky enough to finish both the up and the down courses. My frustration at not being able to take part this year was tempered greatly by the thought of Western States which is now just 3 weeks away. More to follow on that subject soon....
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