Run down but not out in South Africa
Woodford athletes earn silver medals at Comrades
On Sunday 29th May two Woodford athletes, Harold Wyber and Dan Steel, competed in the 91st Comrades (ultra) marathon. Both runners were targeting silver medals, which are awarded for finishing in under 7:30 hours.
Comrades is an iconic event in South Africa, attracting 22,000 entries this year. The event is famed not just for the drama of the elite athletes at the front but also the cruel finishing race cut off at the back, which is the most popular part of the live TV broadcast (similar to audiences enjoying X-factor car crash auditions). The finishing gun is fired exactly 12 hours after the start, with any athlete yet to cross the finishing line deemed to have failed to complete the race. This leads to desperate scenes in the final moments as runners sprint, crawl or sometimes are dragged towards the finishing line.
This year was a “down” year with the course starting up in the mountains in Pietermaritzburg and finishing by the coast in Durban (the route direction alternates between the two each year). Separating the start and finish was 56 miles, including 1,400 metres of climb and 2,000 metres of descent, across the hilltops of the Zulu homelands.
The men’s race was won in a record time of 5:18 hours by David Gatebe. Meanwhile, there was drama in the women’s race as pre-race favourite Caroline Wostmann collapsed (literally at times) in the final 10k, leading to her commanding lead being overturned by Charne Bosmann with 2k to go. The two Woodford athletes ran with several of the leading ladies at different points in the race.
Harold and Dan had a similar pacing strategy, aiming to start off at 7 minute mile pace and hold on. There was interest to see which of the friends and former school rivals would be first to finish. Dan was arguably in better form but Harold had already completed a few ultras and enjoys running up and down large hills!
On the start line the South African national anthem was sung, followed by the Chariots of Fire music. At 5:30am the starting gun was fired, causing a mad surge, similar to the start of the National cross country rather than an ultra-marathon, with both Woodford athletes finding themselves being shoved up against the starting barriers. Despite the early start time, school children were already lining the streets to support the runners. This was a sign of the fantastic support to come along the route which makes Comrades such a special event.
Harold set about attacking the hills with gusto, clocking 6:40 minute miles – a bit quicker than planned – and was bemused to learn he had passed the first ‘tough’ climb of Polly Shorts without realising. Meanwhile Dan was struggling to get into his running. Harold went through the check point at 31.6k in 2:09:55, over 9 minutes ahead of Dan. Before long, Dan was moving better and also found sticking to the pacing plan difficult, running some 6:30 minute miles which meant that by the halfway point the gap was less than 8 minutes. By 30 miles Dan caught up with a Heathside runner and explained this was now the furthest he’d ever run, although there was still a marathon to go!
Harold was maintaining a solid pace until the last 20k, when his legs started to cramp-up. Harold expected Dan to come past and was overtaken by the Heathside runner; however, by this point Dan was struggling too. The distance, hills, and now 24c heat was taking its toll on many runners and Dan was forced to employ a run-walk strategy – stopping to inspect the offerings of the refreshment tables which included potatoes covered in salt, as well as the more standard bananas and oranges.
Harold dug deep and managed to overhaul the Heathside athlete, finishing in a superb 6:46 hours. This effort earned Harold 149th place overall, 4th Brit and a trip to the medical tent to be treated for dehydration! Meanwhile Dan, realising an arbitrary sub-7 hour time was still possible, managed to run a couple of sub-7 minute miles at the end to clock 6:58 hours.
Both Woodford men were delighted to finish and earn silver medals, while Harold was even keen to return next year for the “up” run and a chance to win a back-to-back Comrades medal.