Author: Modern Athlete

I was most
honoured to be asked to go to Dervock in July and talk about one of the town’s
own sons, and one of SA’s greatest sportsmen. Kennedy Kane McArthur was a
remarkable man who had many hardships to overcome in his adopted country and
worked hard, both in his profession as policeman and in his sport, but it was a
life of adventure that took him from the green Irish countryside to the dry,
harsh environment of the Transvaal Highveld in SA. However, McArthur never for
a moment forgot that he was an Irishman and he never let other people forget it
either. It is said that he “talked incessantly about Ireland and about the blue
hills and green glens of his native Antrim”, and according to five-time
Comrades Marathon winner, Arthur Newton, McArthur “had just two subjects of
conversation: Ireland and athletics. He would talk about either for hours and
hours, and for as long as there was anyone around to listen.”

 

Yet he proudly
wore the green and gold SA colours in Stockholm, with the Springbok on his
chest, and after his victory said: “I went out to win or die and it was worth
two-and-a-half years working and waiting for. I am prouder to have won for
South Africa than for myself.” McArthur never lost a marathon and occupies a
unique place among the heroes of South Africa’s sporting history. He was the
first to win a distance event for SA at the Olympic Games and was one of the
country’s most accomplished runners during the first two decades of the 20th
Century.

 

BORN TO RUN

Big Ken, as
he was called in Dervock, worked as a postman and could often be seen running
through the streets delivering the mail. In 1901 he emigrated to South Africa,
towards the end of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), as a volunteer member of the
Baden-Powell South African Constabulary. He was appointed as a third-class
trooper and was later promoted to constable in 1905, then transferred to the Transvaal
Police in 1908 and was stationed in the Potchefstroom district. He seldom did
his patrol work on horseback and mostly walked, even though he had a huge area
to cover. After the First World War, McArthur joined the Transvaal Town Police
and in 1931 retired from the South African Mounted Police with the rank of
sergeant. After that he worked for Crown Mines as head of the mine police.

 

He met his
future wife, Johanna Jacoba Christina Louw, at a party held at her parents’
Potchefstroom home. Nicknamed Joey, her first impression of the tall,
well-built Irishman was not favourable – her first thought was, “What a horse’s
face!” – but they saw each other often after that. He was already running then and
she often accompanied him on her bicycle during training sessions. McArthur was
big for a marathon runner – he was 1.88 m tall, weighed about 77kg and loved
food – but when he started his running career around 1903, he achieved
immediate success, as the many trophies in the Potchefstroom Museum attest. McArthur
scored victories in shorter track races and also in cross-country, but on a
national level he was outshone early on by Charles Hefferon, winner of the
silver medal in the 1908 Olympic marathon, and Chris Gitsham, who won silver
behind McArthur in 1912.

 

UP TO THE MARATHON

The SA
Amateur Athletic Association had been formed in 1894, and enthusiasm for
cross-country running and walking in the first few years of the century led to
interest in the marathon, with the first ever marathon in SA being run in
August 1907 in Cape Town. McArthur tried his first marathon – actually it was
only 20 miles – in April 1908 and just 18 days later won the first SA Marathon
Championship in Cape Town. Despite this easy victory, he was not selected for
the 1908 Olympics, causing huge controversy because Hefferon, who had dropped
out of the race, was included in the team. Even in those days politics played
its ugly role in sport and one newspaper called the selection decision “gross
favouritism.” But even though he was denied a chance for Olympic glory this
time around, the victory launched a tremendous marathon career

 

In Durban in
October 1909, he won The Latest Marathon and set an SA record of 2:44:36 – at
the time, the world record was 2:42:31. This performance is even more
significant if one takes into account that the race had started at 2 o’clock in
the afternoon, which in the usually humid subtropical conditions of Durban,
could not have made it easy for the competitors. Just more than a year later,
McArthur ran even faster when he won the Argus Marathon in Cape Town in
2:42:58, then the fastest time ever recorded anywhere in the world on an
out-and-back course. He also won his first SA track title, over 10 miles, just
a week before the Olympic team’s departure for Europe.

 

TOUGH AS NAILS

Athletes did
not have it easy in those days, not even at the Olympic Games. Whereas today
millions are spent on sport, equipment and nutrition for elite sportsmen, the
South Africans in Stockholm had to make do with less than ideal circumstances.
According to coach H.B. Keartland, the team was always short of money. Also, running
a marathon back then was no jog in the park, with dusty, uneven roads, and
cyclists and motorists racing along in front or reversing back to report
progress or support the back-runners. Even the conditions in Stockholm were
extremely arduous, with the temperature reported as being 32 degrees in the
shade. Luckily the dirt roads were hard-packed and both swept and lightly
watered before the race, and all wheeled traffic was forbidden. Still, it is
alleged that McArthur lost almost 6kg during the race. Joey said teetotaller
Ken was given champagne after the race and drank seven glasses before he
realised what it was!

 

Ken’s winning
time in Stockholm was 2:36:54, more than six minutes faster than in Cape Town
two years earlier, but the distance was only 40.2km. (The now standard distance
of 42.195km (26 miles 385 yards) was only used at the Olympic Games from 1924
onwards.) One rather florid newspaper description of the race read “…and in
comes the conqueror, a flushed and dusty vision in green and gold … The throng
jumps to its myriad feet with a roar. What feet could rest inactive at such a
sight? … he had defied the augury of Phoebus himself, and a burning sun, poured
rentlessly [sic] down upon him.”

 

HERO’S WELCOME

Back in
Dervock, he was given a welcome of fireworks and banners, and a plaque
commemorating his victory was unveiled in the Town Hall. Upon his return to Potchefstroom,
he was accorded a mayoral procession and honour guard, and the Potchefstroom
municipality presented him with a plot of land on which he built a house and
lived until the end of his life on 13 June 1960. He is buried in the
Potchefstroom cemetery.

 

There are
two sad things about McArthur’s running career. The first one is the
unfortunate injury he suffered about a year after the Olympic Games, which
ended his career at only 32 years of age. The other is the disappearance of the
gold medal given to him by King Gustaf V in Stockholm. It once was part of the
McArthur collection in the Potchefstroom Museum, donated by his widow in 1961,
but went missing in the early 1970s. It is indeed a tragedy that this prize, and
one of only six won by SA in a hundred years, is no longer available to be
admired.

 

ABOUT THE
AUTHOR

Ri?l Hauman wrote an extensive article on the life of
Kennedy McArthur for the 2012 edition of the SA Athletics Annual, of
which he is the Editor. He has written two books on athletics and is planning a
biography of McArthur. He also publishes Distance Running Results, a
weekly e-mail newsletter with South African and world results ([email protected]).

Throughout my 18 years of running, I
have loved it when the race photographers captured me in full flight or
crossing the finish line, and I tend to buy all my race pictures, even the
not-so-good ones where my shorts are pulled all skew, because I want to keep
those race memories alive. However, I have noticed that I am often grimacing or
looking half-dead, or worse, smiling like a lunatic who just escaped from the
asylum and found a road race to escape into. And some of the poses I have pulled
over the years defy explanation!

 

Looking through my many race pics, I
can see a few standard poses:

?        
The Winner: For
some reason, in my early races I felt compelled to raise both arms in the air when
I saw a camera, which made me look like I was winning the race. The fact that I
was actually 975^th out of 1427 runners made no difference! There is
even one race pic where I am in the finishing straight, with no other runner in
sight, so it looks like I’m about to break the tape. Totally ridiculous!

?        
The One
Finger Saluter: You raise one hand nonchalantly, extend the
forefinger while balling the rest of your fingers loosely, and point in the general
direction of the camera. I really have no idea why I do this all the time…

?        
The Talker: I enjoy a
good chat during a run, and sometimes I’m so busy chatting to the runner next
to me that I don’t see the cameras. Cue a wonderful side profile of my face…
and with my receding hairline, side profile shots are not so flattering!

 

Of course, there are other poses
that I also try to avoid at all costs:

?        
The Thumber: You see the
camera and immediately give a thumbs up sign, usually accompanied by the
cheesiest grin you’ve ever seen. And if the race is really going well, you give
two thumbs up!

?        
The Flexor: These runners flex their
muscles at the camera – usually the biceps, because it’s blinking hard to actually
flex your leg muscles while running.

?        
The Waver: All this achieves is put a
blurry object vaguely resembling a hand in front of your race number, meaning
that the race pic company can’t identify you to send you your pic. Or worse, you
ruin the pic of the runner next to you – and Murphy’s Law says it will be the
one time that runner actually managed to strike a good pose, but now your hand
is covering half his face!

?        
The Reluctant Winner: Camaraderie sometimes makes us want to hold on to each other, especially
as we cross the finish line, so we hold hands and raise our arms. This pose
works well if all runners participate fully, but invariably it is one runner raising
another’s hand, and the pained expression on the latter runner’s face just
says, “I’m tired and I can barely lift my arms anymore… so give my arm back,
you madman!”

?        
The Flasher: On cold days we wear jackets
or shells over our race vests, which means our race numbers are covered. Then
suddenly we see a camera and the first thing we do is lift our outer top to
show our race number, and just like that, we’re caught flashing. It never looks
good.

 

THE
RIGHT STUFF

My standard pose these days is The
Ignorer, a valiant effort to avoid all the above-mentioned poses. The logic
is that if you pretend to ignore the camera and concentrate on running while
looking determinedly straight ahead, the camera will hopefully, for once,
capture you looking like the elite runner you wish you were. Problem is,
invariably the pic gets taken just as you gasp for breath, so your faces is
contorted, your eyes are slightly glazed and you look like you are just about
to collapse. At least, that’s what I look like…

 

But the ultimate pose for runners to
avoid is The Walker: For some
reason, runners have this morbid fear of being caught ‘on film’ walking. We
have no qualms about taking a walk break during a race, but just let somebody
point a camera at us and we heave ourselves back into running motion, even if it
makes us look like a walrus trying to drag itself up a steep beach! Just as
long as nobody sees evidence of us walking!

 

Dedicated to all those hard-working
race photographers, who patiently put up with us weird and wonderful runners.

 

1. Greek Triumph, 1896

In the
first modern Olympics in 1896, the 40km-long marathon captured the imagination
of the host Greek nation, whose people hoped passionately for a Greek champion.
At about the 34km mark Spyridon Louis, a 24-year-old Greek farmer, caught and
passed race leader Edwin Flack of Australia. When Louis entered the stadium,
Crown Prince Constantine and Prince George of the Greek Royal Family ran
alongside him to the finish line in front of 100 000 cheering spectators.

 

2. Flying Finn, 1924

Finland’s
Paavo Nurmi won the 1500m in an Olympic record 3:53.6, but he had actually been
conserving his energy as much as possible in the race because he was due to run
the 5000m final just two hours later. In the latter race, Nurmi broke away at
the halfway mark and never looked back, clocking another Olympic record 14:31.2
and becoming the first runner to win the 1500m and 5000m in the same Olympics,
a feat matched by Hicham El Guerrouj in 2004.

 

3. Berlin Blitz, 1936

Nazi
Germany’s claims of Aryan racial superiority were quashed by the performances
of the USA’s African-American sprinter Jesse Owens. First he equalled the
Olympic record by winning the 100m, then he won the long jump gold and set a
new Olympic record. Next he broke the 200m Olympic record twice on his way to
gold, and then was part of the 4x100m team that took gold and set a new world
record of 39.8 seconds.

 

4. Dutch Defiance, 1948

At 30,
Dutchwoman Fanny Blankers-Koen was considered too old for a sprinter, but she
proved her critics wrong by winning four gold medals in London, beginning with
the 100m. After winning the 80m hurdles in an Olympic record time, she overcame
apparent nerves to win the 200m. She completed her gold medal sweep in the
4x100m relay, bringing her team up from fourth to first in her anchor leg run.

 

5. Czech Locomotive, 1952

Emil
Zatopek of Czechoslovakia pulled off an unprecedented triple, winning the
5000m, 10,000m and the marathon at the same Games, and all in Olympic record
times. He began by defending his 10,000m title in 29:17.0, then outsprinted the
field in the 5000m to win in 14:06.6. Zatopek had never run a marathon
previously, so he initially matched the pace of pre-race favourite Jim Peters
of Great Britain, but before halfway he surged clear to win in 2:23:03.

Let the
Games Begin

When
it comes to track and field, all eyes tend to focus on the sprints, which are
considered the Blue Ribbon events of the sport. Thus it is the country that wins
the 100m and 200m (and the 4x100m relays) that tends to be seen as the
powerhouse nation of the track. Prior to the 2008 Beijing Games, the USA had
dominated this area of the sport, but in Beijing a major shift of power took
place as the small Caribbean island nation of Jamaica took over the Games.

 

Even
though the Americans won seven gold medals and 23 overall in track and field,
the headlines were dominated by the Jamaicans, notably Usain Bolt, who became
the first athlete since Carl Lewis in 1984 to take gold in the 100m, 200m and
4x100m relay – and all in Olympic records, too. Gold also went to Jamaicans Shelly-Ann Fraser and
Veronica Campbell-Brown in the women’s 100m and 200m respectively

 

In the end, Jamaica became only the second nation in
Olympic track and field history to win gold in all four individual sprint
events (men’s and women’s 100m and 200m). The US had done it three times before,
in 1964, 1984 and 1988. However, The Americans remain the country to beat in
athletics – they’ve won over 700 Olympic medals through the years, which is
more than the next five nations on the list combined!

 

LOCAL
HEROES

From a South African perspective, there will
undoubtedly be much focus on Caster Semenya in the women’s 800m after the
unpleasant wrangle about her sexual status following her sensational win at the
2009 World Champs in Berlin. With all the legal and medical issues now behind
her, she has been able to concentrate on her running again, and SA hopes will
be pinned on her to bring home a gold medal. Another big medal contender is
Sunette Viljoen in the women’s javelin, with her All-Africa record-setting form
going into the Games putting her amongst the favourites for a podium finish.
World Champs silver medallist Khotso Mokoena’s form in the men’s long jump also
seemed to be peaking at just the right time for the Games.

 

South
Africa has claimed six gold medals (plus 11 silvers and six bronze medals) in
track and field and road running since the country’s first appearance at the Games
in 1908. If one of our athletes can win gold in London, he or she will join an
exalted list of Olympic heroes:

?        
London, 1908 – Reg Walker, Men’s 100m: The 19-year-old was the sensation of these Games, coming through one of
the 17 heats and then a semi-final, then going on to win the prestigious 100m
final, and South Africa’s first Olympic gold medal.

?        
Stockholm,
1912 – Kennedy McArthur, Men’s Marathon: This race was probably the most
sensational highlight in the history of South Africa’s participation at the
Olympics, with McArthur winning the race and Chris Gitsham taking silver after
the two had a titanic struggle for virtually the whole race.

?        
Antwerp,
1920 – Bevil Rudd, Men’s 400m: The war hero first won
the 400m, then went on to win a bronze medal in the 800m and a silver medal in
the 4x400m relay. Thus he became the first and only South African athlete to
win a full set of medals at a single Olympic Games.

?        
Amsterdam,
1928 – Sid Atkinson, Men’s 110m Hurdles: The best performance by a South
African at the Games was the gold won by Atkinson in the high hurdles.

?        
Helsinki,
1952 – Esther Brand, Women’s High Jump: Not only did Brand win
gold three months after her 30^th birthday, but it was the first gold
ever won by a South African woman at an Olympic Games.

?        
Atlanta, 1996 – Josiah
Thugwane, Men’s Marathon: Thugwane skipped the last water table to make the
all-important break that would see him win the men’s marathon by a narrow
margin, and become South Africa’s first black gold medallist.

 

Winning
gold in London will also bring our athletes a huge financial windfall, with
SASCOC and the SA Government putting up R400 000 in prize money for an athlete
that wins a gold medal, and that would just be the start of things, with
sponsorships, endorsements, public appearances, book deals and the like to
follow. So now it is up to our athletes to go claim their moment of fame.

When Kerry Koen (36) came home sixth
woman overall in 6:45:45 and first South African female finisher in the 2012
Comrades Marathon, it was rich reward for the hard work she has put into her
running in recent years. This has seen her steadily climb the rankings, and the
podium, in local races. But it was also a far cry from her first ever race,
which she ran when still at varsity. It was not a 10km, or a 15km, or even a
half marathon… No, she went for it, all or nothing, by entering a full
marathon, rather a daunting challenge for someone who had just started road
running.

 

A couple of varsity friends were
planning a trip down to Durban to run this marathon and Kerry thought it
sounded like a pretty fun idea at the time, even though the longest training
run she had done up till then was a mere 14km. “Ignorance was bliss, and I
ended up finishing in agony in 4:12,” says Kerry. “I realised that I needed to
take on a more thorough approach to my running and started doing the shorter
distances to build up to the marathon once again.” That eventually saw her move
up to the ultra-marathons, and her running career has been flying ever since.

 

EARLY DAYS

From a young age, Kerry competed in
all the sporting activities that were on offer at Howick High School in the
KwaZulu-Natal midlands. Including swimming, hockey, tennis, athletics and
gymnastics, Kerry was always sure to be taking part in something. Her father
was a Springbok yachtsmen and her mother represented her province in swimming,
diving and gymnastics, so sport always came naturally, and Kerry says her
parents played a pivotal part in her success, and she considers them mentors in
her running career.

 

It was at varsity that Kerry
discovered that she preferred the individual sports over team sports. “Relying
on yourself to both train and compete alone added flexibility, but also the
pressure to perform was self-inflicted and self-controlled.” says Kerry. She
then took on road running, and despite that first, near disastrous marathon,
she was soon achieving a couple of podium finishes, which ignited a hunger in
her to improve her running ability and her personal best times. “I kept
challenging myself to reach new PB’s,” she says.

 

Then in 2007, a few days prior to
Comrades Marathon entries closing, Kerry decided to take on The Ultimate Human
Race. At the time she was training long distances with a couple of guys who
were preparing for Comrades, and based on the fact that she had kept up with
them and done the same mileage as they had, she decided to enter Comrades with
them. She was physically ready for this challenge, but during the race she
realised she was not quite mentally prepared for the gruelling challenge. “I
missed my target of a silver medal by only a few minutes, which I was sad
about, but in hindsight, I was very happy that I had managed to keep going and
get so close!”

 

EVEN MORE SUCCESS

That first 7:36:49 Comrades time saw
her finish 19^th women overall, and a year later she had moved up to
18^th with another Bill Rowan medal. Then in 2009 she was 11 in
7:18:51, just outside the gold medals, and that really made everybody sit up
and take notice. Having been running for Collegian Harriers, she was now signed
up by the Nedbank KZN club ahead of the 2010 season, but she didn’t have such a
great Comrades that year, finishing 30^th in the women’s race. The
following year was to be her real breakthrough, as she came home ninth for her
first gold medal in 6:56:21.

 

Kerry also enjoyed other success in
2011, placing first in the Umgeni Water Marathon, Bergville-Ladysmith 52km and
South Coast Marathon. After her top 10 at Comrades, she was then selected to
represent her country at the World 100km Champs in the Netherlands and ended up
finishing ninth. “It was a wonderful experience to represent South Africa. The
course was not easy as it was flat, flat, flat – 10 laps of 10km with just two
metres of altitude change. Being used to the spectacular racing routes on offer
in South Africa, and our hills, the boring route made it particularly tough
mentally, and spectator support was also almost non-existent compared to what
we are used to in South Africa. I love the support on the Comrades route, which
helps me to live in the moment of the run, and motivates me to pick up the
pace.”

 

And then came the 2012 Comrades. Now
running in the colours of Bonitas, who she joined during 2011, Kerry came home
sixth overall and first South African, and says everything went perfectly from
start to finish, as she had done the mileage and was mentally confident of
achieving her goal. Still, she admits that she never quite realised just how
well she was really capable of doing and exceeded her own expectations in this
years Comrades marathon. “I never expected it, but my running friends and mentors
have never doubted my ability to improve. If it were not for their belief and
persistence to make me believe, I never would have pushed myself out of my
comfort zone the way I have.”

 

When asked if her 2012 achievement has changed
her life, she responds with a yes and no answer. “There is more attention, but
life is still pretty much the same. I am still me and I hope it remains that
way. If anything, the changes have come in me being able to share inspiration,
advice and making new friends. Not only from me imparting the inspiration and
advice on to others, but others passing things on to me too. There is always so
much room to grow as a person and as an athlete.”

 

OUTDOORS GIRL

Kerry works as a research scientist in
Pietermaritzburg and is the mother of Luke (9) and Emma (7), both of whom are
quite sporty. She says her kids are very proud of her and they seem to
thoroughly enjoy her success. In her spare time she loves to go ride her
mountain bike with the kids in the scenic plantations outside the city. They
also love to go for runs around the block, and on sunny days, to read their
favourite books in their garden.

 

These days, Kerry says she prefers trail running
to the road, even though the Comrades is such a focus for her, because the
trails are more beautiful and more challenging due to the technical nature of
the courses. She lists the Three Cranes trail run in Karkloof, organized by
Wildlands, as one of her favourites. “I would love to represent SA on the
international trail running circuit one day. There are so many ultras and
multi-stage events locally and internationally that sound so exhilarating. When
the time permits, I will be very eager to do this.”

KERRY’S PBs

10km                38:01

21.1km             1:22

42.2km             2:57:09

Two Oceans      4:01:03

Comrades         6:45:45

100km              8:06:29

Back in June 2005, Tracy Bamber had
never been a regular runner, having only run occasionally, but she wanted to
become more active, so she set herself the challenge to run the 56km Old Mutual
Two Oceans Marathon the following year. However, a work colleague pointed out
that it would be impossible, as she had no running experience whatsoever, and
the Two Oceans was no joke, and certainly no race for a beginner. 

 

The final conclusion of the
conversation was that her colleague would give Tracy R20 000 for her chosen
charity if she completed the 2006 Two Oceans. Tracy decided to take that
life-changing bet, and the next day, it was all set in stone when she presented
her colleague with a contract to sign. Then off she went to lace up those
running shoes, because this was a bet she was determined not to lose!

 

During one of her very first
training runs in the Morningside area of Johannesburg, Angus Hudson came
cycling towards her and asked her whether she was on her way to the time trial.
“What time trial?” she responded. Angus explained that he was starting a new running
club in the area and so Tracy became the first signed up member of Morningside
Running Club. “Angus was my biggest supporter in the beginning. He ran my first
half marathon with me, my first 32km and my first full marathon as well, and then
Two Oceans, which enabled me to win the bet and raise my first funds for
charity, which I donated to The Children in the Wilderness charity. Without him,
I don’t think I would have been able to do it.”

 

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

But that was just the start of her
ultra career, and of her fundraising running efforts! Since that first Oceans
ultra in 2006, she has gone on to finish the Cape ultra seven times, and has
just run the Comrades for the sixth time as well, and the sponsorship she
sought for her running has seen her raise over R650 000 for the three charities
she supports, Children in the Wilderness, The Wilderness Trust and the Comrades
AmaBeadieBeadie Charity. Tracy has focused most of her efforts on Children in
The Wilderness, which works to educate the children in African countries about their
surroundings and nature conservation. That not only helps protect the
environment, but also creates a substantial amount of job opportunities for these
children as they mature.

 

Tracy says she will carry on raising
money as long as she does the Comrades, and says she just takes each year at a
time and never plans too far ahead. “I call myself a plodder. When it comes to
Comrades, it is more about the camaraderie of the day to me instead of doing a
good time, although I do like to improve my times generally. I just like to
cross the finish line in a healthy state, achieving my goal in raising money
for the less privileged. I am privileged enough to be able to run these events,
so why not help the less fortunate in the process. Raising money by running is
just doing good, by being out there helping yourself and others. I am
exceedingly grateful to be able to run and raise funds for those in need.”

 

SUPER SUPPORTERS

Since making that bet in 2005, Tracy
made running a permanent part of her life. “I just think running is an amazing
leveller. It doesn’t matter if you are the CEO of a company or what you do,
everyone is there to run. You are no better than the next person. Everyone who
crosses the finish line is a winner to me.” And when it comes to support, Tracy’s
husband Jonathan is her biggest fan. “He’s always giving me words of
encouragement, and then patiently waiting for me at the finish line of the big
ultras. My training partners and Morningside Running Club have also kept me
going on the harder days, and helped me reach my fundraising goals.”