Comrades Day
Today is the day when all of South Africa turns its gaze upon the sleepy R103 old main road from PMB to Durban as thousands of runners descend on KZN’s winter warmth to run the race of their lives.
Here are some facts about the Comrades’ Marathon:
The route is 89.3km (does that make it the longest in the world)
12,000 runners from all over the world fly in to participate
The runners start at 5.30am
They must finish within 12 hours to receive a medal. At 5.30pm the stewards block the finish line and there’s no glory for you. (except the personal sense of achievement of having just run so far)
All the top spots this year went to Russian runners.
The route goes round some extremely windy and steep hills overlooking the Valley of a Thousand Hills.
In order to see the runners go past near us, one had to get up this morning at 4am…
… which is precisely why I missed most of them, arriving as I did at 10.30am to the road already pounded by thousands of feet. (there was NO WAY I was getting up so early on my weekend off) We’re about 30km from PMB and the race started there this year (they alternate directions each year), so runners passed through early.
By the time we (me and a few of the choir guys who’d returned from an all night choir competition and couldn’t sleep!) got down, the onlookers were already packing up. This was a bit disheartening for those few straggler runners who were encouraging each other along at the back. Several ‘rescue buses’ passed us, mostly devoid of runners (yet, it was still early remember). I imagine they would have picked up a few people on the way later on.
Later on I watched the race end on TV, with the final few minutes of the 12 hours plus commentary. It was touching to see runners helping each other to the finish line. I was moved to see 4 strong white guys carrying a black guy over the finish, he’d obviously not been able to make the last little bit. Another guy fell just before the end, kept trying to get up and not managing to do so, his legs wouldn’t behave. And yet he kept on smiling. It’s strange how you suddenly really want him to get up and get going, to encourage them. I think it’s respect for the length they have just run and the mammoth effort they’ve put in.
Any runner friends tempted to try next year? I think my 5km on the treadmill doesn’t really come close to what these athletes put themselves through. I’m a long way off Comrades standard..
All the kids and volunteers from here were sponsored to have a fun day starting at 5.15am with face painting and t-shirts and running through a braai, soccer match, games, the monthly birthday party (and ubiquitous cake).. By mid-afternoon, volunteers and children alike were grumpy, overfed and short-tempered. I don’t think many will have trouble sleeping tonight. But a good day was had by all.
