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Portuguese Powerhouse

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Eloi
De Oliveira can look back on quite some running career: A Comrades gold and 21
silvers, two gold medals in the Two Oceans (including third in 1989) on top of
18 silvers, a marathon PB of 2:18, plus several SA Champs titles and many KZN
provincial titles from cross country to the marathon, from under-19 level right
up to the Master (50-59) category. Today, at 55, he is still running
competitively, alongside his slightly more famous wife Grace, herself a
multiple Comrades and Two Oceans gold medallist. “We’re not as competitive
these days, but for me, the obvious goal is to win my age category, or push
myself to at least try beat the 40-year-olds!” says Eloi.

 

SETTLING IN

Born
in Portugal in 1958, Eloi moved to South Africa when his father found
construction work here in 1966. Ironically, Grace hailed from a village just
5km from his own, but the families did not meet until they became next door
neighbours in Durban, where Grace soon became best friends with Eloi’s sister
Fatima. “Grace invited me to her matric dance and we corresponded for two years
while I was in the army, then married in 1983 – and then she had to start
running, too!” says Eloi. They have a daughter Daniela, now 24, who regularly
accompanied them to races when she was younger and has a good few runs under
belt as well.

 

Eloi
began running at school, joined Savages Athletic Club while studying
engineering, and then ran his first Comrades in 1980 while doing national
service. “I applied to run it, despite my training being limited to regular 2.4km
runs with rifle and boots, because I thought it would be a nice week away from
camp.” He ran 6:58:00 and has never finished slower than 6:59 in 22 Comrades. After
the army, Eloi worked for Eskom, which led to a lecturing job at a technical
college. “Then in 1987 I was sent to UCT to do a teaching qualification, which
I followed up with a Masters in Education at UKZN, and I now teach high school
mathematics in Durban.”

 

BEST YEARS

Eloi
was another of the talented SA runners whose best years in the 80s unfortunately
coincided with the sporting isolation years due to Apartheid. “I did run for
the Junior Springboks in Cross-country in 1986, but by the time SA was back in
international competition, I was getting long in the tooth. Grace went on to
represent SA a few times, and I am immensely proud of everything she achieved.”

 

After
many years of injury-free running, calf and hamstring problems have sidelined
Eloi for much of the last two years, but he says he is still motivated to run.
“There are days I feel that I’ve had 40 years of this and it’s time to retire
and only run socially, but my competitive nature keeps me racing. So in a few
years time I will be looking for titles in the grandmaster category!”

 

ELOI’s PBs

800m                2:01

1500m              4:02

3000m              8:32

5000m              14:40

10 000m            29:55

10km                30:30

15km                46:50

Half Marathon   1:05:56

Marathon          2:18:30

Two Oceans      3:20:45

Comrades         5:53:27

Be Winter Savvy

Strokes Ahead of the Rest

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The London
Olympics will always be a special memory for Matt, who alongside teammates
James Thompson, Sizwe Ndlovu and John Smith landed gold ahead of hosts Britain and Denmark. “It’s amazing to hear
stories of people back in SA telling me exactly where they were when we won the
gold,” says the Jo’burg-born rower. “And when we saw ourselves on the front
pages, it was so bizarre!”

 

Matt was introduced
to rowing as a boy because his father was an international rower and had a
passion for the sport. After competing at school, Matt moved to Pretoria to study economics and join the rowing academy at
Tuks, and in 2011 he was part of the SA team that qualified for London. “The top 11 crews
qualify and we came 11th!” says Matt. “But I knew I didn’t want to
just go to London
to be a tourist – I wanted to work hard and do well.”

 

On the day
of the Olympic final, the anthem was running through Matt’s head and he
couldn’t help but thinking about a medal. “At 250m to go, the buoys turned red
and we knew it was time to sprint early. I make the calls, so I told the guys to
go for gold. They all shouted ‘Gold!’ I remember seeing ‘1 RSA’ on the board
and I just started screaming! I doubt that moment can be recreated.”

 

LOOKING AHEAD

While London will always be career
highlight, Matt says he is determined to achieve more in rowing. “You can’t
compare your future to the Olympics – you have to look for something new and rewarding,
and how you can attack your next race.” Unfortunately, he has had to put rowing
on the backburner in 2013 due to injury: “Back in 2010, I had an op on a
prolapsed back disc, and now I’ve hurt another,” he explains, “but I haven’t
stopped training, even though I’m taking a year off from rowing.”

 

Instead, Matt
is now focusing on cycling to maintain his fitness, and he’s doing pretty well
at it, too: He completed this year’s ABSA Cape Epic alongside fellow Olympic
gold medallist James Thompson, finishing 33rd overall, and also took
sixth position in the recent Joburg2c mountain bike tour with Rob Dormehl. Not
too shabby for a rower – although he says he is still getting used to training
by himself instead of a team.

 

In the
lead-up to London,
the team would do two rowing sessions a day, plus a midday gym workout, and they
would run three 10km sessions a week. “We use running to push our weight down
to 70kg before a competition, but also, when we’re overseas and our hotel isn’t
close to water, it’s nice to be able to go out and run.” In spite of the injury
and shift of focus this year, Matt is nevertheless still putting in the hard
yards on the water. “Now I’m training twice a day and take Sundays off, whereas
before we were training three times a day with every fifth Sunday off! I
sometimes think other pro athletes are crazy, but then I look at my own training
and figure I’m pretty crazy too!”

Follow Matt on Twitter:
@brittainmatthew

Swim to the Beat - Neptune MP3 Player

From Dancer to Runner

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When
Keaton Quarmby lines up at Cape Point on 24 August for the Puffer, she will be
undertaking her longest race to date. She has 10 marathons and the 2012 Old
Mutual Two Oceans under her belt, and has participated in the three-day
ProNutro AfricanX Trail Run four times, but this will be a significant step up
for her. Still, she reckons she’s ready, and is actually looking beyond the Puffer
already. “I really enjoy the longer ultra-distance races, so I’ll be running
Puffer, then AfricanX again, and then, with New Balance now involved in the Comrades,
I plan to run it myself in the next few years,” says Keaton.

 

At
the beginning of July, it was announced that New Balance will be the new
footwear and apparel sponsor to Comrades from 2014 to 2017, and in her role as
Marketing Manager for the SA branch of the 107-year-old US company, Keaton is a
key player in the deal. “New Balance has a long history in the sport of running, but
we’re very excited
about this sponsorship, as we think it is really going to take our brand to
another level! That will include launching our Comrades shoe early next year,”
she says.

 

IN THE GENES

Born and
educated in Cape Town, Keaton (31) comes from a running family. Both her
parents ran marathons and her brother Laine Alexander is an elite-class runner.
Keaton, however, was focused on ballet and modern dancing for most of her formative
years, so only got into running later. “I did a bit of cross-country at school,
but it was only in 2006 that I got into serious running.” Since then she’s gone
from 10km social runner to ultra-marathoner, and Getting married to Warren in
February this year has seen her running improve still more. “He’s not only my
husband, he’s my running partner,” says Keaton. “When I finish work, I meet him
on the trails for a run, and on weekends we do our long runs together. I’ve
done the AfricanX with four other running partners, but next year I’ll be
running with Warren, so I’m really looking forward to that.

 

Keaton
has been with New Balance SA for nearly 10 years and says she loves the great
working atmosphere and people she works with. “We have a great family vibe in the
company, and we all regularly take part in events, then get to share our war
stories and have a good laugh.” A perk of the job is international travel, and
Keaton has not only run the Boston Marathon twice, while visiting the American
head office, but has also run in New York, Miami, London, Singapore and Hong
Kong. “When I travel, I’m usually tied up in conferences all day, but our team
always make sure we get out for a run.”

 

Fitting it
all in is the secret to running success, concludes Keaton. “I work hard and
smart, like getting to the office early so that I can leave at normal time and
meet Warren for an evening run. Running keeps me in a positive, strong frame of
mind, and it’s a great stress-reliever, but best of all is the time with Warren,
as well as my family and colleagues.

Across Canada… with a Pram

The Right Brew for You

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To
put it simply a tea is “only a true tea” if it actually contains tea plant
leaves. This is why oolong, white, green and black are considered “true teas,”
as their leaves come from the actual tea plant named camellia sinensis. Rooibos and herbal teas do not contain leaves
from the tea plant. The French use the word tisane,
which is a little more accurate, since herbal tea is really just an infusion of
leaves, seeds, roots or bark, extracted in hot water. In drinking a
well-steeped herbal tea, we get all the plant’s benefits in an easily
digestible form.

 

MANY
CHOICES

There
are so many wonderful herbal teas on the market, so when it comes to choosing one,
it’s important to look for a well-sourced product made from high-quality
natural ingredients and which does not contain any added essential oils or
flavours! Here are a few of the most common herbal teas which can all be found
in your local supermarket, and their benefits:

 

Peppermint: Peppermint
tea is recommended to relieve the symptoms of abdominal gas and bloating, and
to relieve muscle spasms. It’s also good for nausea. If indigestion or
heartburn are problems, however, it is recommended to avoid peppermint
altogether. It can be made using fresh herbs from the garden, and it is one of
the easiest herbs to grow. Peppermint is also said to cure bad breath!

 

Rooibos: Probably the
most common herbal tea in South
Africa is the famous rooibos tea. It is high
in vitamin C as well as other minerals. An easy drinking tea, it’s largely
grown locally and has been touted for its antioxidant properties, which help
ward off disease and signs of ageing. It has also been shown to help with
common skin concerns, such as eczema.

 

Ginger: Another
great digestive aid, ginger can be used to curb nausea, vomiting or motion
sickness. Make fresh ginger tea by simmering a piece of ginger root on the
stove for 10 to 15 minutes. Add fresh lemon juice and honey when you have a
cold for a powerful germ-fighting combination. Ginger tea is also excellent for
improving circulation, and is one of the best herbs for improving digestion,
lung congestion and arthritis.

 

Chamomile: Chamomile has
been used in many cultures for stomach ailments and as a mild sedative.
Chamomile tea has also been shown to ease heartburn, nausea, and vomiting. A mouth rinse with chamomile may relieve mouth sores caused
by cancer treatments, and some research suggests that chamomile could help with
other conditions, like diarrhoea in children, haemorrhoids, anxiety and
insomnia. When used on the skin, chamomile helps with skin irritation and wound
healing.

 

BREW THE PERFECT CUP

When
you are making your herbal tea, use fresh, cold water. Do not use aluminium
cookware, as it can affect the taste – rather use glass, cast iron or stainless
steel, where possible. A tea strainer is very helpful, as it lets you create
your own blends of teas or herbs, and stops the leaves and flowers from
escaping into the drink.

 

Once
the water has boiled, add one heaped teaspoon of herbs for every cup of water. Cover
and let the herbs steep for ten minutes. Do not over-steep the herbs, as the
flavour may become too strong and taste more medicinal rather than pleasant. If
you want to enhance o sweeten the flavour of your tea, add honey or lemon.

Dietician’s
note: While all
herbal teas passed by the Food and Drug Association (FDA) of South Africa
are considered as safe, always check with your doctor to ensure that what you
are consuming complements your medication and is appropriate for your health.

The Capital’s Finest

Heart Rate Zones

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The Secret to Getting Your Training Effort
Right!

When
it comes to training programmes, one of the problems is often in
interpretation: What exactly does it mean when a programme tells you to go for
an “easy” 45 minute run, and just how slow should a “recovery” run be? Because
if you don’t get it right, you will either be over-trained and tired – or
worse, injured – or under-trained and not ready to race. There are a number of
ways to gauge your effort during a training run in order to determine how fast
or slow you should be running:

 

1 PACE PREDICTOR CHART

This
is a pacing chart based on either your 5km or 10km race time and will give you
equivalent paces to train at for longer runs and for easier days. However,
pace-based training should only be used or attempted by experienced athletes, and
even they can come horribly short using this method. The challenge with this
method is that you’re probably going to chase the pace set for the specific day,
regardless of how strong or ‘off’ you feel on that day.

 

2 THE BORG SCALE OF PERCEIVED
EXERTION

This
scale is based on how you feel you are working during a training session. The
scale is tabulated as follows:

 

Rating

Effort or perceived “feel”

6

20% effort – almost none

7 to 8

30% effort – very, very light

9 to 10

50% effort – gentle walking

11 to 12

60% effort – fairly light

13 to 14

70% effort – somewhat hard, steady pace

15 to 16

80% effort – hard

17 to 18

90% effort – very hard

19 to 20

100% effort – very, very hard to exhaustion

 

The
advantage of this method is that it’s based on your current fitness level. If
you’ve only just taken up running, then a run today which has a feel of 15 to
16, or hard effort, will probably begin to feel more like a 13 to 14, or
somewhat hard, within a few weeks. The problem with this method is that it’s
very subjective and you’ll find that different people will attach different
values to the same effort. It’s also difficult to be consistent using this
method, and you may well attach different values on equal effort runs from one
day to the next simply because you’re in a different mood.

 

3 HEART RATE

By
far the best way to gauge effort is your heart rate. By using a heart rate
monitor, you are able to measure your cardiovascular and physiological stress
during exercise. When you first start exercising, your muscles are weak or
under-trained and are therefore smaller than what they should be. With time and
with progressive training, your muscles begin to strengthen and to grow in
size.

 

The
same is true of your heart, which is also a muscle. Before exercise it operates
at a fairly low intensity, and is therefore smaller and weaker than what it is
capable of. With progressive exercise your heart muscle begins to strengthen
and to grow in size. The fitter and stronger your heart becomes, the lower your
heart rate or pulse is, due to the fact that the stronger and more powerful
heart has to work less in order to achieve the same result of pushing blood
through your body.

 

Your
heart rate is not dependant on your mood, although if you find yourself under a
lot of emotional stress, you will see this reflected in your heart rate. Most
of the time, however, heart rate enables you to train at the correct intensity
for your current fitness level. So, if your training programme tells you to go
for an easy 45-minute run, keeping your heart rate at 60-70%, this will be as
simple as checking your watch from time to time and either increasing or
decreasing your pace. With time you will find that for the same heart rate
percentage, you’ll be running at a faster pace.

 

FIND YOUR TRAINING ZONES

So
how do you calculate your heart rate training zones? Again, there are a number
of methods. The one I prefer and find most accurate, apart from actually going to
have your maximum heart rate (MHR) tested at a high performance centre, is the
Miller formula: MHR = 217 – (0.85 x age). So, if you’re 30 years old, then your
estimated MHR will be 192.

 

The
next thing you will need is your waking pulse. As soon as you wake up, before
doing anything else, take your waking pulse by lying still and relaxed in bed.
Either strap on your heart rate monitor, or simply place your fingers on your
throat pulse, count the beats for 30 seconds and multiply by two. Let’s assume
this value is 50. Now using the figures of 192 and 50 as an example, your heart
rate training zones would then be calculated as follows:

 

Zone 1: 50-60% of MHR (Recovery Zone)

Minimum: ({MHR –
waking pulse} x 50%) + waking pulse = ({192 – 50} x 0.5) + 50 = 121

Maximum: ({MHR –
waking pulse} x 60%) + waking pulse = ({192 – 50} x 0.6) + 50 = 135

TARGET HEART RATE: 121BPM to 135BPM

 

Zone 2: 60-70% of MHR (Fitness Zone)

Minimum: ({MHR –
waking pulse} x 60%) + waking pulse = ({192 – 50} x 0.6) + 50 = 135

Maximum: ({MHR –
waking pulse} x 70%) + waking pulse = ({192 – 50} x 0.7) + 50 = 149

TARGET HEART RATE: 135BPM to 149BPM

 

Zone 3: 70-85% of MHR (Aerobic
Threshold Zone)

Minimum: ({MHR –
waking pulse} x 70%) + waking pulse = ({192 – 50} x 0.7) + 50 = 149

Maximum: ({MHR –
waking pulse} x 85%) + waking pulse = ({192 – 50} x 0.85) + 50 = 171

TARGET HEART RATE: 149BPM to 171BPM

 

Zone 4: 85-100% of MHR (Lactate
Threshold Zone)

Minimum: ({MHR –
waking pulse} x 85%) + waking pulse = ({192 – 50} x 0.85) + 50 = 171

Maximum: ({MHR –
waking pulse} x 100%) + waking pulse = ({192 – 50} x 1) + 50 = 192

TARGET HEART RATE: 171BPM to 192BPM

 

The
zones can now be used to determine the effort at which your various sessions
should be run:

?        
A recovery run should fall within Zone 1.

?        
An easy run in your base phase should be within Zone 2.

?        
Zone 3 encompasses easy and long runs.

?        
Zone 4 is reserved for hard sessions.

REST IS BEST

Watch it!

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As a lifetime athlete who
has completed four Comrades Marathons, three Full Ironman races and two Half
Ironman events (and represented SA at the
World Triathlon Long Distance Champs in Spain – Ed.), I know how important
it is to have a good watch and to ensure you log all your sessions. I’ve found
it’s amazing what you pick up from your training patterns, once you’ve stored
data. I currently use a Garmin 910XT, which I’m very happy with, but I also
have a range of others as well – I hope my wife is not reading this… – and so I
was keen to give the BB Runner a workout.

 

TRIED AND TESTED

I had the BB Runner watch
for a week, and in that time, I did five training sessions: Two runs, two
cycling sessions (including a mountain bike ride) and one spinning session. I
found it’s really simple to set up: You just input a few personal details, push
a button, and you’re set to go! I really like the size of the display digits – for
ageing eyes like mine that was a plus! However, I struggled a bit with the
light, finding the data difficult to read with the light on, and also found the
screen a bit pixelated. In saying that, it might just be my eyes! The heart
rate monitor strap is fairly thin and initially I expected it to move all over
the place, but surprisingly, it stayed in place.

 

I tested the results
against my Garmin – I wore both watches at the same time – and the data was
very comparable. I liked the Bar Style Heart Rate graph that showed minimum and
maximum heart rate, because it’s easy to see at a glance what zone you are in.
The compass is a good idea, especially for cross-country and trail runners.

 

I found the watchstrap a
little hard while biking, but it was fine while running, when the wrists are
straight.

With a battery life of
around 10 hours, one can’t really recommend it to the back of the pack Comrades
runners, and as it’s not a multi-sport watch, Ironman athletes would not
benefit either. It is, however, absolutely perfect for the recreational runner,
especially for a novice, and a great watch to start out with!

For more info on the BB Runner
GPS and HRM Sport Watch, go to www.bb-runner.com/sa or contact Glyn Whiteley on
082 753 5220 or e-mail [email protected].

Cool

Bound for China

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(Strap) MY GOAL

The
Great Wall of China is one of the man-made wonders of the world and a
world-renowned tourist destination, and each May it plays host to the Great
Wall Marathon, of which half the distance is run on the Wall itself, including
over 5100 steps! However, that is just a small ‘tourist section’ of the Wall,
which stretches for over 4200km across China – and only two runners are known
to have ever run the full length. That was back in 2006, and it was done by
SA’s David Grier and Braam Malherbe.

 

Now
another South African, 40-year-old former fashion designer and creative
director Alister ‘Dream Wilder’ Koeresies, plans to run on the Wall in an
effort to raise funds to pay for school sport and playground facilities and
equipment, as well as computers, for the underprivileged kids of the
Masiphumelele township near Fish Hoek in Cape Town. “I’ve been training for a
year for this trip, doing up to 60km a day, so mentally and physically I feel I
am ready,” says Alister. “Now I’m busy lining up my support crew, because I
will need some ‘crazies’ to go with me!”

 

RUNNING ROOTS

Alister
was a talented middle-distance runner at school, later moving up to long
distances and running the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon in 1996, clocking an
impressive 4:36:57. He ran it again in 1999, but then took an extended break
from running. “I started again in 2011, ran another Oceans, then decided last
year to run a marathon every few weeks for five months in order to raise money
for the kids. It was the first time I had done anything like that… before that
I had been a business executive, but having separated from my life partner, I
decided to refresh myself, because I felt I had become stagnant.”

 

And
so, from April to August, Alister ran the Two Oceans, then based himself in the
UK to run the London Marathon, Cork Marathon (Ireland), Defi Mountain Marathon (Switzerland),
Midnight Sun Marathon (Norway), Stockholm Marathon (Sweden), Davos
Ultra-marathon (79.4km, Switzerland) and the Poeti Cinque Terra Marathon (47km,
Italy). “Some I ran unofficially as charity runs, but others I took seriously,
including finishing eighth at Defi and 13th in the Cinque Terra. It
was a really taxing experience, because I hitchhiked and ran to get to many of
the races, but I raised about R40 000 in sponsored gear donations for the kids.”

 

APPETITE WHETTED

Next
Alister decided it was time to pursue one of his all-time ambitions, to visit
the Great Wall of China, and what better way than on the run? “I’ve always been
fascinated by Eastern philosophy, and when I went to Hong Kong at age 22, my
interest was piqued by a silk robe I saw on sale, which led to me becoming
interested in the old silk trade routes. That in turn led me to the Great Wall
of China, and I’ve always wanted to see it. I came across a Chinese quote that
says, ‘To be a great man, you have to stand on the Great Wall.’ Next year I
will fulfil that dream.”

 

However,
Alister realised that the language and culture barriers will make the trip even
harder than it already is, so in June he flew to China for a month of
fact-finding, planning, networking and training, while also taking in as much
Chinese culture as he could. This included training with various martial arts
masters. “I have no martial arts background; it was more about learning about
my inner strength and energy.” Strangely enough, the one thing he didn’t do was
visit the Great Wall. “I had to be disciplined about not ‘opening my Christmas
present’ early, because I want the Wall to be a surprise when I get there next
year.”

 

IN THE MEANTIME…

March
is still a long way off, so in the meantime Alister has jetted off to Europe again
for a few months of training. This includes training in the Italian Alps, running
the Davos and Cinque Terra races again, and running the 800km Camino de Santiago
Pilgrim’s Trail in Spain. “I’ll just see how my legs feel and take it one day
at a time,” he says.

To
support Alister’s run, go to www.alisterdreamwilder.co.za.

Wilder Lesotho Wildrun

The Need for Speed

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Run short, run fast… This is definitely
not the motto of most runners who are looking to compete at marathons, ultras
and the Comrades, which are all races that require you to run slowly, but for a
long time. I honestly believe that most runners, however, would love to run
fast! Think about it: Why is the Olympic 100m event always the most watched
event at the games? Because we love
speed, in all its forms!

 

Now remember, speed is relative, which
means we can all run fast relative to
our age, gender and ability. However, many runners say they don’t do speed work
because they are not fast enough. This is actually nonsense. Fast for you may
not be fast for your running partner, and certainly not for Usain Bolt, but it
is still fast. And the first rule of
running fast is simple: Run short.

 

Now this
may seem logical to you, but many runners still worry about the distance they
run during a training session rather than the intensity. Short means shorter
distance and fewer repetitions. There is only one way to get to run faster, and
that is to teach your legs what it feels like to run faster. To do that you
have to do training workouts that accomplish exactly that: Get your legs used
to running fast. And make it fun! So here are some of the training sessions
that you can do to learn the technique of running fast.

 

1.
STRIDING THE STRAIGHTS

This session is usually done around an
athletic track, but it can also be done on a rugby/soccer field. After a easy
warm up of 3 to 5km with some faster striding, do the following:

?        
Run the strait of the track fast – not quite
a sprint, but at a pace that you could only maintain for a short while. This
means about 100m at close to full speed, before slowing down to a jog around
the bend of the track, then running the back straight fast again. Cover
anything from 8 to 12 laps of the track this way (about 2.5 to 3.5km).

?        
The good part about this training is
that the rest period is not structured in terms of the recovery period – you
can jog or even walk the bends until you feel fully recovered to run another
100m fast. As you get fitter this recovery jog will get faster but always focus
on the fast 100m runs.

 

2. FARTLEK

Fartlek was invented in 1937 by Swedish
coach Gosta Holmer and the name roughly translates as ‘speed play.’ True
fartlek is about mixing up faster-than-race pace efforts with easier recovery
running, and it is an effective and satisfying training session that should always
be fun!

?        
Run with a partner and each of you will be
responsible for 20 minutes during which you decide how fast and how far you
run. Try to do this in a large park/cross-country area, but you can also do it
on the road.

?        
Start with an easy-paced warm-up of
around 4km, with a few faster surges.

?        
The first ‘leader’ will then say, “Let’s
sprint to that tree,” or “Let’s run hard for two minutes.” The same applies to
the rest periods. After 20 minutes you swap around.

?        
After finishing 40 minutes of running
freely like this, you will be left feeling strong and invigorated, and can jog
another 3km as a cool-down.

This is running in its purest form – no kay
markers, GPS, or heart rate monitors, just fast running at its best!

 

GETTING
HOT IN HERE

With summer approaching it is an ideal
time to run fast, and here are some pointers for planning your fast training
runs:

?        
Shorten your long runs – 15km to 20km
maximum.

?        
Cut weekly mileage – run less days
during the week, and shorter distances overall.

?        
Race at shorter distances – find a 5km
race or time trial and give it a full go.

?        
Get back onto the track or field – still
the best place to run fast!

?        
Remember that rest and recovery are just
as important after faster running as when doing long runs.

 

Now, what are you waiting for? Get out
there and discover the joys of faster running!

Dream Race

Muddy but Marvellous!

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TOTALSPORTS
XTERRA PEZULA presented by REHIDRAT?
SPORT, KNYSNA, 4 JULY

 XTERRA LIGHT

(3km trail run,
12.5km mountain bike and 3km trail run)

 

Jessica convinced me that this event would be fun to do, so I thought
why not give it a go? My mindset was pretty much to enjoy it, give it a good go,
but to have fun and not take it overly serious. I didn’t think that I could actually
win it!

 

The conditions for the run were very good, even though it was pouring on
the morning, but then as soon as we got on to the bikes and went into that
forest, things got very muddy and watery. Luckily the sun had come out, so we
weren’t too cold. The conditions in the forest favoured me, as I have a
cross-country background – I won the SA MTB Half Marathon Junior Champs in 2012
and 2013. I also won the All African Junior Cross Country in 2013 and the
National MTB Half Marathon Series in 2013, so my technical skills helped me a
lot.

 

The best part of the race for me was definitely the MTB part. It was slippery
and muddy, but loads of fun! The worst part was on the climb in the last run, I
tripped and fell. At the end I was speechless, as I really didn’t think that I
would even podium, let alone win. That, plus all the support from the crowd,
was rather overwhelming. The organisation of the race was very good. I had a
little issue at registration, but that was easily fixed and the rest was smooth
sailing. I will definitely be back. I loved every minute of this new
discipline.

 

I knew that Jessica stood a very good chance of winning it, as she is
the SA and African Duathlon Champ, but I would never have thought that I could
also win. And that amazement still carries on, with people still congratulating
us on our wins. – Dylan Rebello

 

XTERRA FULL

(3km trail run,
23km mountain bike and 7km trail run)

 

According to winner Stuart Marais, he was feeling
broken after a hard week of racing by the time he got to the XTERRA. “The Big 5
Challenge was killing me, so the plan was to kill it on the first run and then
just survive on the bike. Kevin Evans caught me about 5km into the bike leg and
coming into the second transition he had about a three-minute lead on me. I
felt good and managed to catch him on the last single track section, and winning
was fantastic,” said Stuart, who promised to be back in 2014 and go for his
hat-trick win. Kevin came in second, while Kent Horner finished third.

 

“With sore legs you can only push so hard,” laughed
women’s winner Carla Van Huyssteen, who was taking part in her first Big 5 Challenge.
“My breathing was really good on the day, but my legs just didn’t want to
respond. I ran really hard on the first run and on the bike my plan was just to
remain constant. Then Candice Neethling caught me at the 14km mark on the bike
leg and entered transition with at least a three-minute lead on me, but I
managed to catch her at the 5km mark of the second run. I pushed as hard as
possible, as I didn’t want her to surprise me later in the run, and I was really
relieved with the win.”

The Best in 25 Years!

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UTi Rhodes 52km Trail Run, Rhodes, Eastern Cape, 6 July

On race morning, the village awoke to the traditional pealing of church
bells. The rain was clattering off tin roofs and the wind was making its
cold-self felt as 302 runners lined up in balmy 3?C conditions. Leading to the
first checkpoint were local man Sydney Speelman and defending champion Iain
Don-Wauchope. However, an official kit spot-check saw Sydney having to sit out
a 60-minute time penalty for not carrying the stipulated safety items, and Ian
sportingly shook hands with his rival before heading into the Kloppershoek Kloof.
Pacing himself well, Iain then took firm control of the race.

 

A cold headwind took the wind chill factor below freezing and rain
squalls blasted the crew ‘up top’ as they waited for the runners. First to emerge
at the Ford Ranger Checkpoint at the top of legendary Mavis Bank, Iain took a
quick breather, then headed on for Lesotho View and the Hooggenoeg Ridge
section. Following some six minutes adrift of Iain at this point were Hylton
Dunn, who was second in 2011 and won the inaugural PowerBar Carlisle Climb
earlier in the week, and previous Rhodes winner Johnny Young. Fourth to crest
Mavis Bank, in a new women’s best time of 2:21, was Su Don-Wauchope, closely
followed by Megan MacKenzie.

 

Iain summited Hooggenoeg Point in a new best time and extended his lead
to cross the finish line in 4:16, improving on the previous course record set
by Johnny in 2008 by some 16 minutes. Hylton pulled clear of Johnny to take
second in 4:33, while the former winner and record-holder came home in 4:42. Sydney,
meanwhile, put in a strong run after his enforced stop to claw his way back up
to 12th position overall.

 

Maintaining their positions well inside the top 10 overall, Su and Megan
were having an intriguing race. Su took Hooggenoeg Point in a new best time,
but on the run-in a stronger finishing Megan took the lead, and fifth place
overall, to win the women’s title in a new course record 5:01. Su came home in 5:07,
also inside the previous best time, and sixth overall. The time gap between the
first and second women was the closest in the race’s 25-year history. Mary-Anne
Niewoudt was third in 5:54.

 

Interestingly, the top three men had all finished in the top two
positions previously at Rhodes, while the top three women were all novices. Best
conditions and already five best times, and the 25th run still had a
few more ‘bests’ in store as Diane Duggan took 35 minutes off the previous course
record in the women’s 60+ age category, clocking 8:05.


PowerBar Carlisle Climb

 

The inaugural 5km PowerBar Carlisle Climb is a wonderful addition to the
Rhodes Trail Run, held on the Wednesday before the 52km ultra. According to the
organisers, “Most of the Rhodes runners arrive on the Friday before the trail
run and leave on the Sunday. We are conscious of the need to assist local
tourism and we believe that a short ‘leg-stretcher’ before the main run gives
visitors a reason to extend their stay.”

 

With a generous cut-off time but a healthy challenge ahead, the new race
brought together top trail runners and social runners alike. The Carlisle Climb
pits runners against the steep hairpin-infested uphill section of Carlislehoek,
which has an almost 1:3 gradient in places, and which the trail runners faced
downhill on the following Saturday.

 

First across the line was top trail runner and newlywed Hylton Dunn, who
would go on to finish second in the ultra a few days later. He was followed
home by Andrew Raubenheimer, while third overall and first woman home was none
other than Sunelle, who wed Hylton three weeks before the run.

 

A fun aspect of the event was that no-one was allowed to run with a
watch or phone, and everyone had to predict their finish time. This ‘event
within the event’ was won by Patrick Nolan, who finished just one minute and 41
seconds outside his predicted time.