suzmaruk travels: The Comrades Marathon

The crowd are on their feet, they are lining the barriers along the finishing straight, the noise is tremendous. The count down has started to the cut off time of 11 hours. The race official with his back to the finishers prepares to fire the gun to end a long long day. He does not want to face the hundreds now crossing the line and be swayed by the disappointed faces of those lacking the energy and stamina to sprint the last few metres and beat his trigger finger. Still they run walk crawl some are carried over by strangers they have only met that day but who have turned out to be true Comrades, this is the spirit of one of the world’s truly great races.

June 16^th, the date of the Comrades Marathon is when the majority of road runners in South Africa plan for their fitness to peak after about 20 weeks of hard training. It is a monstrous journey between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, the ‘down’ run, one year and the opposite direction Durban to Pietermaritzburg, the ‘up’ run, the next year. The distance is 90kilometres approximately, the ‘down’ being about 3kilometres longer than the ‘up’.

The race is famous for its hills and many of their names add to the folklore that surrounds the event. At half way lies Drummond in the Valley of a Thousand Hills and on either side of this hollow are two ‘mountains’ Inchanga and Botha’s Hill which have to be climbed no matter in which direction the race is run. Others that have brought even the finest runners to a plodding walk are Fields’ Hill, Cowies’ Hill, and Polly Shorts. The latter, Polly Shorts, is probably the most dreaded on the ‘up’ run. It is about 3kilometres long and doesn’t look much if you drive over the course beforehand but with about 80kilometres already in your legs it is like tackling Everest.

The race was started in the early 1920’s by a few army comrades from the First World War. From these humble beginnings of a handful of runners the race continued with small fields until the running boom of the 70’s and 80’s made it into an icon from top athletes to keep-fit joggers to achieve. Entries now average 12000 and a field in excess of 20000 turned out for the Millennium event. After the gun goes to set the race off it can take 20 minutes for all the runners to pass under start banner. Because of the vast numbers you are never alone on the route and have dozens of others at your side all the way, new friends are made as runners talk one another through bad patches. Not only are runners plentiful but on the sides of the road are thousands of supporters and well wishers. These people spend the whole day on the route shouting, cheering and run beside you to give encouragement. Others sit at their picnic tables drinking their wine and tending the barbecue, watching not only the race in front of them but the battle for the lead on their portable TV sets. These friendly locals willingly supply refreshments to runners not readily available at the feed stations, like a can of beer, a steak roll etc. believing this will get you to the finish.

The organisation of the race is first class with the Committee starting on the following year’s event after analysing problems from the one just finished. This involves the route planning, entries, negotiations with sponsors, police, traffic authorities and many others. All the runner sees is a smooth registration system and exhibition for a week before the race which includes photographic memorabilia in the Comrades Experience and hundreds of suppliers of equipment from shoes to energy supplements that have set up stalls. Once the race starts the route is marked every kilometre so you always know where you are. Water points and feed stations are every 3kilometres during the first half and about every kilometre towards the end. The stations become so long that they seem to run into one another making the last 30kilometres or so one long water point. The feed stations are not just water but coke, energade, chocolate, sweets, baked potatoes, bananas etc. Yes it is really well organised.

There is a qualification requirement for entry; you must run a standard marathon in under 4 hours 30 minutes. Your starting position depends on your marathon time, the faster your time the nearer the front you start. At the finish the first 10 across the line get gold medals, for finishing under 7hours 30 minutes it’s a silver medal, a Bill Rowan medal (named after the winner of the first Comrades) is for sub 9hours and for the bulk of the runners, those finishing between 9hours and 11 hours the achievement of a bronze. There has been talk of increasing the cut off time to 12 hours with a fifth type medal and this could be happening this year.

Training schemes and plans for Comrades are as many as there are runners. Everyone has their own methods of attaining their goal. One thing is generally accepted, you must get lots of mileage in your legs between January and June to build up endurance. The South African running calendar is full of long races 32, 42, 50 and 56 kilometre events that runners use as long slow distance (LSD) training runs. Most would do at least three standard marathons and an ultra marathon in their build up for the race. Managing these long runs would be difficult for people in Australia to on their own. It would better if three or four friends planning to do Comrades got together and so do the long training as a group. To have a comfortable Comrades a training mileage for the five month period of over 1500kilometres is necessary but over 2000kilometres except for elite athletes could result in over training and injuries. LSD will be sufficient for anyone with a goal just to finish comfortably with a bronze medal, for those with higher ambitions, gold or silver, speed work (track, fartlek, and time trials), hill repetitions, gym work and cross training should be incorporated in their work outs.

Strangely most people prefer the ‘up’ run. One reason being that in the other direction some of the long down hills cause severe strain on the leg joints and calf muscles, especially the long drop down Fields’ Hill into Pinetown and that makes the final 20kilometres very painful. Another reason is the more convenient start in Durban, which being a large holiday resort has a plentiful supply of hotels within walking distance of the start. The opposite is the case with Pietermaritzburg where accommodation is limited. Many prefer to stay in Durban and travel up to the start but with the off at 6am you have to leave Durban about 4am, not the best preparation for an ultra marathon

Finally the most difficult part is mental preparation. You will be filled with doubts, “Have I done enough mileage” “ Can I manage the distance” “90kilometres is a long way” and many more. For the week prior to the race while tapering your training you will plague family and friends with imaginary symptoms of colds and flu, aches and pains of supposed injuries. All this will disappear when the gun fires and you embark on the great adventure of the Comrades Marathon. I guarantee you will enjoy it.

Jim Sutherland

Further information on the race can be obtained from the official web site

http://www.comrades.co.za/

or contact me at my e-mail address

suzmaruk@yahoo.co.uk