Author: Modern Athlete

He had done it all – debt collector, waiter, salesman – before finding one of the best jobs in the country: Media and Communications Coordinator for the Comrades Marathon Association. Craig Fry has been around the block a couple of times but has found his one true passion: working in the sport industry. Craig shares his story with Modern Athlete.

SPORT, SPORT AND MORE SPORT!
I grew up in Pietermaritzburg and was keen on all sports. I excelled at hockey, cricket, soccer, athletics and golf. You could say sport has always been in my blood and is definitely my first love.

Needless to say studying was never my strong point and I just scraped through Matric! Though I did not like studying, I had a blast at school. To me going to school was a social occasion where you got to spend time with all your mates all day. It drove the teachers nuts, but hey, I had a good time!

THE REAL WORLD
My first year in the real world in 1994, a friend’s father offered me a job at his law firm in Pietermaritzburg. My role entailed finding debtors for the collections department. In 1995 I decided to move to Johannesburg to ‘make my fortunes’. I packed my bags, jumped onto a train and left. I didn’t know anyone, but at 19 you are invincible! I managed to get a job as a sales representative selling consumer goods. That was tough! Selling supermarket items to independent wholesalers and chain stores is where I cut my teeth in sales. After a while I got itchy feet and at the age of 21, I got on a plane to Los Angeles… I lasted three weeks and came home! I went crawling back to the girlfriend I left to go to the USA. Jobs were tough to find and I had to wait tables to make money. I then managed to secure a sales job with a textile firm.

THE DAY MY LIFE CHANGED
After I saw the movie Jerry Maguire, I knew right away that being in the sports business was right up my alley!

‘Take a chance and win a prize’, was my motto and I started working on my own. This was seriously hard work! It was hard to get clients; I was young, had no tertiary education in the sports business and not many people took me seriously!

I decided to venture into the cricket player management business, as I knew some of the provincial players at the time. I managed to sign up a few average players and started networking with companies in the cricket business. Luckily my girlfriend supported me at the time. She knew how passionate I was and gave me the opportunity to do this.

Then I met Ray Jennings who was the Easterns Head Coach. I became very close to Ray and I can honestly say that I learnt a tremendous amount from him. He is as tough as nails but always fair, so you always knew where you stood with him. I spent many afternoons at the practices with the team and management at Easterns Cricket treated me like I was part of the team. Andre Nel was then on the brink of selection to the national team and I ended up being involved with him for a few years thereafter.

DOING IT MY WAY!
Things were finally going my way. I met up with an Indian businessman who was close to the Indian National Team. He helped me financially to expand my business. This allowed me to travel to Kenya, Zimbabwe, India, England and Sri Lanka, negotiating various sponsorship contracts for cricket players. I was able to work with some of the game’s greatest players. I was having so much fun, and had to ask myself on occasions, is this seriously work? I was doing what I loved, and making money!

After a few bad decisions made purely out of ignorance, my wheels fell off and I was back to square one. But being me, when I believe in something I will exhaust all avenues and will do anything to make it work. Also, at the time I had a new lady in my life. She mentioned a couple of times that working for myself was not a real job and too risky.

I then got offered a job with Primedia Sport. Welcome to the soccer business. I took up a position with Signet Licensing and Marketing, primarily to look after the commercial and licensing programmes for Kaizer Chiefs Football Club. I remember my first meeting at Kaizer Chiefs. I met the Chairman and founder, Mr Kaizer Motuang, and after the meeting I thought to myself I can’t believe I just met with the Chairman! He is such a quiet and easygoing man, but an absolute giant in the football business.

I later moved on to being General Manager of Back Page Publishing and Sales Manager of Amakhosi Magazine. This was a great learning curve for me, working within a different part of the sports business. After Amakhosi Magazine, I entered into discussions with JAKE Productions, a marketing, entertainment and events management company. One of their major clients was Kaizer Chiefs! All in all I was within the Kaizer Chiefs family for seven years. Today I am still a passionate Chiefs supporter, and rarely miss watching them play!

MY COMRADES JOURNEY
I relocated back to KwaZulu-Natal after 13 years in Gauteng. With the passion for sport running through my veins, I applied for the Media and Communications position at the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) and was lucky enough to be appointed to work on this great event.

I was one of those people who used to say, “How is it possible to have to work all year round for a one day event?” Very soon after I started at the CMA I realized that there is no other way but to work all year round to put on a world-class event such as the Comrades Marathon.

This is what our year looks like:

  June – June is the month where we wrap up the previous race. I draft and send press releases to over 1 500 contacts on our media database locally, and to over 300 media companies across the globe. I also respond to queries from the various media houses with regards to pictures, results and potential stories from the race.
  July – In July I start planning a media strategy for the following year’s race, based on failures and successes from the previous race. We also compile and finalise the race results brochure. I work closely with the marketing department in order to communicate their strategies to the public. An important aspect is to monitor the media on a daily basis to make sure that what is being reported on Comrades is correct. I get these reports and make sure everything is above board. This means a lot of reading!
    August – This is the month where I start executing my media strategy. This means regular press releases packed with newsworthy items, sending out monthly newsletters, generating newspaper and magazine articles and the dissemination of general information.
    Closer to race day – As we get closer to race day (about two months before), things really get interesting. I put together the race souvenir brochure and schedule regular radio and television interviews for CMA officials and myself. This is the part of my job that is fun, but at the same time has its own pressures. As the official spokesperson for the CMA everyone wants to talk to you and it is imperative that I know everything that is going on within the organisation in order to be able to respond immediately with the correct information.
  Race week – Race week and the expo is by far the craziest time for me. From the Monday to race day on Sunday, I pretty much have a phone strapped to my ear. Added to this is managing the media centre at the expo and acting as MC for the various press conferences during this week. This year we had over 800 members of the media from all over the world reporting on race day. The service we offer journalists on race day cannot be compared to any other race in the world! We have two press trucks that seat 40 people, we allocate five Toyota Double Cab vehicles to take journalists and photographers on the route during the race, and 15 motorbikes are reserved for photographers. This is all done to ensure the media gets the best possible view of this magnificent race and to allow them to report in the best possible way. A media centre equipped with televisions, race computers and live, up-to-the-minute splits and information on runners and the race is set up at the finish line.

THE LONGEST DAY
I sometimes think it must be easier to run the race than work on race day (hang on, let me first run the race next year and then I will decide). On race day I spend the whole day, from 4am to 7pm, on my feet. My day involves managing the media on the route, assisting with queries in the media centre and going to and from the SABC broadcast booths. I also help with the placement of the photographers at the finish line. This usually becomes a bit of a fight between the guys, as they all want to be in the best position to get photos.

After the winners have crossed the finish line, I rush and prepare for the post-race press conference. This cannot run late as the SABC wants to shoot the winners on the stage for the prize-giving ceremony and when live TV is involved, you simply can’t run late. 

You would think once the winners are in things get easier, but now the media are looking for something else to report on… While I am doing all of this, the phone still rings with journalists who are not at the finish line and who want to be updated with information. 

THE DAY AFTER
If you asked me on Monday 31 May how I was doing, I probably responded with, “I’m done”, “I’m phoned out” or “I’m not doing this again!” But the truth be told, I arguably have the best job in the CMA. I basically get to talk all day about an event that I love and am part of, I get to talk on radio and TV, and most of all have a lot of fun while doing so. I get to interact with the elite athletes, dignitaries and the general public. I don’t see it as work, but as a great way to pass the time. I wouldn’t change my position for anything else right now.

INSPIRED TO RUN
After not exercising for almost 13 years, and being involved with Comrades, I decided last July to start running again. This was going to be tough. I had been smoking for almost 20 years and knew I was in for a rough ride. Being me, I set my sights high and decided to run the 2010 Old Mutual Two Oceans Ultra in sub-four hours (I must have been braindead). Being in my position at Comrades and having access to all the pro teams and coaches I made a few calls and got hold of John Hamlett, after reading an article on him in the Modern Athlete. John agreed to coach me.

So I started getting weekly training programmes and things started coming together. John is a crazier man than I am. He would call me at 5am and if I answered the phone, he would simply ask me why I wasn’t doing the training for that particular day before work. “Go train,” he would shout. One cannot fault the man for his passion, commitment and dedication to his athletes. John trains elite runners and he still found time for me, an average Joe, and gave me the same time and dedication as he would to his elite runners. Now that’s what a coach should be!

I trained properly and gave myself the best possible opportunity to succeed. My attitude was: if you don’t succeed, at least you know you gave yourself a fighting chance.

TWO OCEANS
On the day I passed Shaun Meiklejohn at about 7km saying, “Come on old man, let’s go!” It came back to bite me! Shaun passed me at about the 36km saying, “Who is your old man now?” What could I do but have a good chuckle? I was done! I missed my goal time, but it was a fantastic experience and I will have to go back next year.

Who knows, maybe I will just have to take the plunge and enter the Big C for 2011. Then at least when I talk about Comrades I can have a runner’s perspective of the race.

I take my hat off to every single person who actually attempts to run Comrades, and everyone who finishes within the 12-hour cut off is an exceptional athlete!

As for me, I try to live my life the best way I can. I suppose because I am a person who would rather give than receive, things seem to work out for me in one way or another. And when all else fails, I go for a run!

Many of us trained for months leading up to Comrades. Then finally Comrades day came and whether you achieved your goal or not, Comrades is done and dusted and now is the time to train smarter and faster! You might just surprise yourself and run your 10km PB 12 weeks from now. But this programme is not just aimed at long distance runners wanting to get those legs moving faster. It is also aimed at shorter distance runners who want to try a fresh approach or improve their running times. – BY DERICK MARCISZ

NOW WHAT?
Many long distance runners always ask the same question: what running should I be doing after Comrades? Well firstly I believe that all Comrades or Ironman competitors should take some time off from structured training after a long tough event that they have trained hard for over a number of months. This rest period should be anything from three to six weeks!

When one looks at the training that most Comrades or Ironman athletes do, it is usually between three and five months of regular base building training and hill work that brings them to a good overall fitness level. Why not capitalize on this ‘base fitness’ and do some faster running? Maybe even have a crack at your PB over a short distance like 10km.

The Run Faster Programme
The Run Faster Programme will be run over the months of July, August and September.

Some basic principles for the Programme are:
  Rest five weeks after Comrades, which means you will be starting this programme on Monday 5 July.
 Aim to run four to five times a week during July.
  Keep most of the runs short (8-10km) with one longer easy run of 12-14km on the weekend.
 Stay fresh and rest if tired.
  Do not run the faster speed sessions on tired legs!

Speed is Relative
It is important to remember that we can all run faster relative to our abilities or previous race times. Also remember that faster running is for everyone, irrespective of age or ability!

For the first month, there are two types of faster running:

  Fartlek repetitions: These are two minutes of faster running. You can do this on the road or on grass fields/track or even cross-country. Two minutes is good because it is short enough to run hard, but not long enough to become an endurance fast run. Run these starting easy and building up to full speed by the end of the two minutes – it is not a flat out run. The two minute recovery must be a jog! This session is a good introduction to running faster. Remember to warm up 3km before you run fast and always jog 1-2km as a cool down.

 Strides: This was one of my favourite sessions when I was a competitive runner! Warm up with a 3-4km run, then do the following on a track or on grass. If needs be it can also be done on the road. The session is done by ‘striding’ the straights of a track or the length of a field and ‘jogging’ the bends or the widths of the field. On the road stride for one or two lampposts and jog the same. Start with 10-12 strides (five/six laps) with a maximum of ten laps. Again do a cool down jog of about 2km.

Both of these sessions allow you to play with the faster running, starting slowly and building up to faster speeds. The strides session helps you develop the form and flexibility for faster running and is actually a lot of fun after months of long slow running.

The absence of specific distances and target times takes the pressure off runners at the start of a programme like this. Check out the programme on the left – this may just be the push you need to make you faster, stronger and tougher.

See you on the road this winter!
Don’t forget to look out for next month’s issue of Modern Athlete in which we will be featuring the next four weeks of this exciting training programme.

WEEK 1 – 4 July to 10 July
Sunday 4 July Long run – 12km easy at steady relaxed pace
Monday 5 July Rest
Tuesday 6 July Fartlek – 4 x 2min fast with 2min easy recovery (see fartlek training)
Wednesday 7 July Steady run – 10km steady run
Thursday 8 July Easy or rest – 8km very easy or rest
Friday 9 July Rest
Saturday 10 July Strides – 4 laps striding the straights/jogging the bends (see stride training – 8 strides)
  
WEEK 2 – 11 July to 17 July
Sunday 11 July Long run – 12km easy at steady relaxed pace
Monday 12 July Rest
Tuesday 13 July Fartlek – 4 x 2min fast with 2min easy recovery (see fartlek training)
Wednesday 14 July Steady run – 10km steady run with last 1km brisk pace
Thursday 15 July Easy or rest – 8km very easy or rest
Friday 16 July Rest
Saturday 17 July Strides – 5 laps striding the straights/jogging the bends (see stride training – 10 strides)
  
WEEK 3 – 18 July to 24 July
Sunday 18 July Long run – 14km easy at steady relaxed pace
Monday 19 July Rest
Tuesday 20 July Fartlek – 5 x 2min fast with 2min easy recovery (see fartlek training)
Wednesday 21 July Steady run – 10km steady run with last 1km brisk pace
Thursday 22 July Easy or rest – 8km very easy or rest
Friday 23 July Rest
Saturday 24 July Strides – 6 laps striding the straights/jogging the bends (see stride training – 12 strides)
  
WEEK 4 – 25 July to 31 July
Sunday 25 July Long run – 14km easy
Monday 26 July Rest
Tuesday 27 July Fartlek – 5 x 2min fast with 2min easy recovery (see fartlek training)
Wednesday 28 July Steady run – 10km steady run with last 1km brisk pace
Thursday 29 July Rest
Friday 30 July Rest
Saturday 31 July Time trial – 4 or 5km at 85% effort to determine fitness to use as a base to improve
   
WEEK 5 – 1 August to 7 August
Sunday 1 August Long run -14 to 16km easy
Monday 2 August Rest
Tuesday 3 August Fartlek – 6 x 2min fast (see fartlek training)
Wednesday 4 August Steady run – 10km easy
Thursday 5 August Hill repeats 4 x 300m long hill – not too long concentrating on high knee lifts and fast ‘turnover’
Friday 6 August Rest
Saturday 7 August Strides – 6 strides (see stride training – 6 strides)

Derick Marcisz (55) has been involved in running, cycling and triathlons for over 40 years. He has run 25 sub-2:30 marathons with a marathon PB of 2:17.1 and a half marathon PB of 65:36. He has run all the major ultra marathons, including Comrades and Ironman and competed at provincial level in track, cross-country, road, duathlon and triathlon. Derick is the current 2010 SA Triathlon Champ for Olympic distance for age group 55-59 years. He has also been involved in coaching/assisting athletes for many years and is currently doing an ITU Triathlon Coaching Course.

At the end of March a haggard-looking David Grier arrived back in Cape Town after a harrowing solo run through Madagascar. Having lost 20 kilograms, survived tropical storms, more than 100 dangerous river crossings, swamps, bilharzia and leeches, and having come close to dying four times, he had quite a story to tell. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Having paddled his sea kayak 500km from Mozambique to Madagascar, and then run 2 100km of the 2 700km from the southern point to the northern point of the island, David Grier was lying under a bush, trying to stay cool in the jungle humidity as he fought a fever that left him too weak to move. He had contracted bilharzia halfway through the run from the stagnant water he had run and swum through, had lost about 15kg in body weight, and had blood in his urine.

“I sent an SMS to Professor Wayne Derman back home to discuss the symptoms, and he replied,
‘I don’t think you’re going to make it; we need to extract you.’ It was one of the most gut-wrenching moments in my life. I don’t know if I was close to dying, but I do know that you get to that stage when you sit down and feel it would be so much better to just close your eyes and rest. My body was totally useless, but my mind took over and pulled me out of that deep hole. I had to pick myself up and push on, because I knew that every day I spent in that jungle meant more chance of getting sicker.”

DEATH-DEFYING
That was only one of David’s close shaves with death during the challenge. While paddling to the island, the 50-year-old father of four and celebrity chef from Cape Town says a tropical storm suddenly appeared from nowhere. “It was coming right for me, so I turned to look for my support boat, but it was just a tiny speck in the distance. Luckily they picked me up just in time. The yachting fraternity did tell me I was mad to go across in monsoon season!”

The torrential monsoon rains nearly claimed his life twice on the island. “One night in the jungle it was freezing and I was getting hypothermia. I knew I had to keep moving to keep warm, but it was dark and I couldn’t go anywhere. I put on all the clothes I had in my rucksack, then stood against a tree so most of the water would run off me. Next I did pull-ups on a branch to generate heat, but when that got too much, I just immersed myself in the swamp water – because it was a lukewarm 28 degrees!”

Then, less than two days from finishing, he was crossing a flooded river near a waterfall at night when the current took him. “My rucksack was filling with water, and I knew that the waterfall would mean the end of me. I told myself not to panic, relaxed my body, and suddenly I felt branches scratching my face, so I reached up and pulled myself out of the river, bit by bit. I lay on that riverbank until the sun came up, knowing that those few seconds of rational thought saved me, because panicking exhausts you and prevents you from fighting back.”

GOING SOLO
David is no stranger to long runs. In 2006, he and Braam Malherbe became the first people to run the full length of the Great Wall of China, covering 4 200km in 98 days. Then in 2008 the duo completed the South African Coastline Challenge, running 3 500km in 80 days from the Namibian to the Mozambican border. Both runs were to raise money for the Miles for Smiles Foundation, which funds operations to fix the facial deformities of children with cleft palettes and lips, and give them better quality of life. “I know how much these kids suffer, so when I see the before and after pics, I know why I put myself through this,” says David.

With Braam pursuing other interests, David decided to undertake his first solo challenge, and chose Madagascar because of its mystique and beauty. “The forested areas are like a dream world, but the island is going through a bad stage of collapsing infrastructure, deforestation and erosion. As a result there isn’t much birdlife left, and only pockets of lemurs, but it’s a great place if you love snakes – I saw about eight a day. And the chameleons were absolute monsters!”

“What stood out for me was the weather and conditions, which made this mentally and physically the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. In the south it was so hot I couldn’t run after 10am and had to start at 3am. But the biggest downfalls were the monsoon rains, stagnant water and disease. “I chose to run in the monsoon season because there are no shops to buy water. The rainwater sits in little hollows and I had to sift the mud out through a t-shirt. It’s the only water to drink – and it nails you from both ends!”

A WORLD APART
David had a support crew made up of fellow South African, Nick Heygate, and two Malagasy locals following him in a 4×4 vehicle, but only saw them for about half of the time. Many roads and bridges were washed away and his crew had to take long detours, which meant he sometimes went up to 14 days without seeing them. The plan was to first run up the centre of the island to the capital Antananarivo, then veer east to run in the lee of the mountains for more protection from the rain, but David says this was where the warm and cold air met and it actually rained even more!

“I was wet for days on end, and the gravel and mud in my shoes shredded my socks, so I had to be so careful to avoid my blisters getting infected. Then the roads just ended and the crew had to drive 500km back to the capital, cross to the west coast and drive another 700km to meet me while I trekked 250km through swamps and jungle to get to the other side of the island.”

The stagnant rainwater brought another problem. “The leeches were disgusting. Nick and I pulled more than 150 off ourselves each day. And if you scratch it off incorrectly it regurgitates, which infects the bite, then flies lay eggs in the wound and next thing you know you have maggots in the wound and your muscle tissue starts rotting. It happened to Nick and he had to be extracted, but he recovered and then continued the journey with me. He’s one tough guy!”

David visited villages whenever possible to find food, water and shelter as well as to ask for directions. “If I’d just followed GPS co-ordinates, I’d probably still be stumbling around the swamps and jungles. The villagers knew the best routes, especially the driest options when it rained.” But first he had to convince them not to be scared of him. “I would arrive in some towns and the villagers would run away, because they’d never seen a white man before. Then I scared them all over again with my talking phone.”

The local cuisine also posed a few challenges. “Their basic food is rice eaten with whatever protein they can find, but it’s very limited. The worst was one horrific meal of zibu hoof soup, with rotten gel oozing out of the cow hooves. I simply couldn’t eat it!”

WHERE TO NOW?
So is there another challenge in the pipeline for David? Not yet, he says. “I’ve taken a mental and physical hammering from the last five years. So much has happened to me, and it’s difficult to adapt to normal life. One day I was fighting for my life in a cyclone in a jungle; two days later I was in a mall back home. Now I know what a caged animal feels like!”

“Also, I realised on this journey what I have put my wife and family through. You sometimes think it’s only you out there,
but this time I thought to myself, ‘You’re being really selfish!’ So I spoke to my wife, Lizelle, but she said what we are achieving makes it worth it. The fundamental reason for the runs was to make a difference and inspire people to also go out and make a difference. I think I have achieved that.”

FOR THE CHILDREN
Through their first two runs, David and Braam
raised just on R3 million for the Miles for Smiles Foundation, which has funded more than 1 000 operations in South Africa, Rwanda, Swaziland and the Congo. David will be heading back to the island in September when 180 operations will be done there. To date, David has raised over R500 000 through his Madagascar run, and will continue with this effort for the rest of 2010. To contribute to David’s Madagascar Run fundraising campaign, go to www.milesforsmiles.co.za.

READ ALL ABOUT IT
David has written books about his first two runs, filled with stunning photographs he took along the way, and will be writing about his Madagascan run in the near future. His books on the Great Wall run (Courage and Rice, R300) and Coastline Challenge (Hope in Thyme, R250) are available at www.davidgrier.co.za.

Four lucky readers could each win a signed copy of Hope in Thyme. Simply log on to www.modernathlete.co.za and click on the competition link on the homepage. Competition closes 26 July.

It is every runner’s nightmare: oversleeping on the morning of Comrades and not making it to the start line. For actor and TV personality, David Vlok, this nightmare was no different. Every year in the lead up to Comrades he would dream that he overslept or forgot to put his shoes and race number on. Luckily, for the past 19 years that he has tackled the long road between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, this has been nothing but an awful dream. Then came Comrades 2010, the day he was meant to run his 20th race and receive his coveted double green number. – BY MICHELLE PIETERS

It’s 4:45am in a room in the Elangeni Hotel located on Durban’s popular beachfront. A cell phone rings and he fumbles in the dark to answer. His girlfriend on the other side of the phone says, “Hey my love, how is the start?” A thousand things race through his mind; it can’t be Comrades day. Surely someone would have woken him. By now David is wide awake and he realises something is very wrong. When his girlfriend asks where he is, panic takes hold of him and he shouts, “I am still in Durban!” And so David Vlok’s worst nightmare became a reality.

REWIND
Let’s rewind a little. Two days before Comrades David and one of his best buddies, Bruce Fordyce, left with the rest of the Nedbank elite team. David’s girlfriend, Candice Cullinan, could not accompany him to Durban this year and David shared a room with Renier Grobler, part of Nedbank’s seconding team. David was excited. It was his 20th run and apart from a niggling foot injury that was resolved just before Comrades, he was on target for a Bill Rowan medal.

The evening before Comrades the boys from the Nedbank team had a couple of pints while watching the Super 14 Final. Around 10pm David called it a night. On the way to his room he reminded Renier to bring him a bigger running vest, as his vest was too small. Renier eventually made his way to the room, forgetting the vest and mentioning to David that they were still busy preparing nutrition and hydration for the athletes. David assumed Renier would bring the vest at a later time.

Why he did not set his alarm still puzzles David. “Each year I set my own alarm or I get a wake up call. This year for some reason I just assumed I would wake up as Renier got ready.” What David did not know was that Renier got so wrapped up in getting everything ready, that he did not sleep. Just before 3am he took a quick shower and left the room quietly to finalise the last details, forgetting David’s vest and assuming David had set an alarm or arranged for a wake up call.

Around 3am the Nedbank pro athletes left in two vehicles from their respective hotels. Bruce, who stayed at the Hilton, thought his buddy David was in the second bus. Only when they all arrived in Pietermaritzburg, did they realize that David was missing…

THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES
The first thing David did after realising he had overslept was to phone hotel staff to find out if there were any Nedbank athletes downstairs. When the surprised receptionist answered that they had left, David shouted, “How can they leave me behind? And they left in my vehicle! On top of that they did not even bring me my bigger vest!”

He asked hotel staff to arrange transport for him to Pietermaritzburg. Survival mode kicked in. David tore his small vest trying to make it looser and hastily pinned his race numbers to it.

He ran downstairs, cell phone in one hand and energy gels in the other, only to find that there was nobody to take him to Pietermaritzburg. “You can’t do this to me!” David shouted. His eye fell on a haggard-looking taxi outside the hotel, with the driver fast asleep in his seat. “How much to Pietermaritzburg?” David shouted. “R800,” came the sleepy reply. “I don’t have cash on me. When you get back ask the hotel staff to pay,” David exclaimed.

COULD IT GET ANY WORSE?
Eventually they made their way onto the highway. David frantically phoned Renier and demanded to know why they had left him behind, soon learning it was all a misunderstanding. His watch told him it was 5:10am. David reassured himself that starting even ten minutes late would be okay.

About 40km from Durban the taxi came to a standstill. No petrol. Could it get any worse? David grabbed R50 from the driver’s moneybox and ran 1km to a nearby garage where he bought a can of petrol and ran back. It was 5:30am. He realised the cockerel has crowed in Durban, Chariots of Fire had been played and the gun had gone off.

He refused to give up! In Pietermaritzburg, the taxi battled to get to the start as most roads had been blocked off. It was 6am.  David caught sight of the Town Hall’s lights, jumped out of the taxi and started running. The start was about 3km away and he sprinted to get to it.

It was 6:15 as David ran towards the start! Amused spectators assumed he had forgotten something very important if he was running back to the start. Officials started rolling up the red electronic timing mat that registers all Comrades runners as starters. David hysterically shouted, “Stop! Stop! Put the electronic mat back so my start time can register!”

Officials refused as David tried to explain that it was his 20th run and he had gone through so much in the last 90 minutes just to get to the start. But officials informed him that he had been disqualified from Comrades 2010.

Just then a spectator took a photo of David. He realised the picture would later serve as a record that he had started the race. He ran right past officials who once again warned him that he was not allowed to run. “Are you going to chase me all the way to Durban?” David asked.

DAVID’S DETERMINATION
He ran slightly off the route as he was worried that officials ahead would pull him off the road. As he got back onto the main road, a police car pulled up next to him. “David, what are you doing?” the policeman asked. By now David was running at nearly full speed as he tried to catch the back markers, so that he would disappear into the crowd.

For the first time that day things started looking up. The policeman agreed to escort David on the route. Then two police cars and an ambulance joined the escort. Later that day, David told Bruce that for the first time in his life, he felt as if he was leading the race!

VISUALISE IT
Helpers and supporters at the water tables looked on in surprise as the police escort passed them with David in tow. Was there a second race they weren’t aware of?

The policeman told David that the backmarkers were about 8km ahead of him. At that stage, David was running sub 5min/km to try and catch them. At the top of Polly Shorts he saw the lights of the cars escorting the back markers. By then spectators and helpers had caught on to what was happening. Some began to cheer and others started running next to David. About 15km from the start, David eventually caught up to the last two runners of the nearly 16 000 person field.

HELP ME VLAM!
David reached Vlam Pieterse, well-known leader of the sub-12 hour bus. A surprised Vlam’s first words were, “What are you doing here?” He then reassured David that he would make it to Durban if he relaxed and sat in the bus for a while. However, David’s body was reacting to stress and starting too fast. He started cramping and throwing up and eventually lost the bus. Someone passed him a banana and he slowly started to feel better, and caught up to the bus once again. Every time David saw an official he cringed, worried that they would pull him off the road. After all, he had been disqualified and was technically not allowed to run.

Around the 60km mark David made a pit stop, but got too close to a thorny bush, which tore his number. Could anything else go wrong? He struggled to get his number back on. Eventually back on the road he picked up the pace, fighting his way to Durban, worrying the whole time about what would happen when he reached the finish line.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
The last 10km David ran at 5min/km passing many runners, some probably wondering whether he had cheated. How could someone in this group run at a sub 5min/km pace after 70km on the road?

David entered the stadium a worried and emotional man. By now many spectators, officials and Dave Dixon, the president of the Comrades Marathon Association knew what had happened. The crowd was cheering and the announcer mentioned his name and the fact that it was his 20th run.

David crossed the finish line in 11:13 and ran straight to Dave and other officials. After explaining his situation, Dave assured him that he would be registered as an official Comrades finisher and that he was allowed to collect his medal and coveted double green number.

Bruce presented David with his double green number. He burst out laughing and his first words were, “Show me what a Vic Clapham medal looks like.”

THE NIGHTMARE ENDS
“That evening everything was surreal, as if it did not happen to me. Only the next morning I started laughing. Today I ask myself, ‘Why did I not just get back into bed once I realised I had overslept? Why when there was no hotel transport did I get into a taxi? And why when I was disqualified did I keep on running? Why did I not just give up and why did I put myself through all the torture to get to the finish line? But I know it is in my nature to never give up no matter what. And I suppose that is what Comrades is about; its what makes this race so special.”

READY, STEADY, GO
Next year David will be back. And he will set an alarm. “I will always run. I love my beer too much to stop training. If I do stop, I will put on weight and look like Bruce did two years ago, a little vetkoek,” chuckles David, co-owner of Ogilvy’s, a pub and restaurant in Midrand.