Runner prematurely celebrates win, gets passed at finish line
Author: Modern Athlete
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2015 Amabeadibeadi Charity Launch
With less than two months to go to the 90th Comrades Marathon, the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) launched its 2015 Amabeadibeadi Charity Drive in Sandton, Johannesburg on Friday, 10 April 2015.
The initiative is aimed at fostering wider support for charitable fundraising for the CMA’s six official charities; namely The Community Chest, PinkDrive, Sports Trust, Starfish Greathearts Foundation, Wildlands Conservation Trust and World Vision South Africa.
A significant aspect of the 2015 Amabeadibeadi Charity initiative is the Toyota Win-a-Car Competition, where a brand new Toyota Corolla Quest will be up for grabs on Comrades Race Day, 31 May 2015. This is a meaningful contribution to the greater good from South Africa’s largest automotive manufacturer.
The ‘Toyota Win-a-Car Competition’ has been a driving force for Amabeadibeadi fundraising and sees thousands of rand channeled into the charitable fund every year. Runners and the greater public can enter the Win-a-Car competition by sms’ing “TOYOTA” to 34068 at a cost of R1.50 per sms.
Another exciting part of the 2015 campaign is the continuation of the Race4Charity initiative. Via this development, runners have the opportunity to “secure” their spot closer to the front of the Comrades start line and improve their seeding batch, while raising funds for a good cause. Comrades runners have raised over 1,2 million rand to date, with 445 runners signed up. So far, the current top donor is Carel Nolte who has raised more than 40-thousand rand.
Race4Charity gives individuals the opportunity to not just make a difference, but to get people involved and race collectively for the benefit of charities. Runners can go to the Comrades website www.comrades.com and follow the Race4Charity link. Runners can sign up and choose which of the six Amabeadibeadi charities they would like to support.
CMA Vice Chairperson and Head of the CMA’s Charities Sub-committee, Cheryl Winn says, “The Amabeadibeadi Charity Drive has been a defining part of the CMA since 2000. It is the aim of the CMA to give to the needy and less fortunate in a meaningful way and the Amabeadibeadi charity drive does just that. We are grateful for the hard work done by the various charities that benefit from Amabeadibeadi.”
Toyota Senior Sponsorship Manager, Delia Jackson says, ‘It is important for us to be involved in this race as Durban is a key base for our company and a significant part of our dealer network. We hope that our contribution to both the Comrades Marathon and Amabeadibeadi Charity drive will continue to make a difference in the lives of those charities they support.’
CMA General Manager, Chris Fisher says, ‘The Amabeadibeadi Charity Drive is in line with the indomitable Comrades spirit and gives back to the people of South Africa via the amazing work of our charities. We urge our runners to sign up and run for charity in order to effect a greater positive change in our country.’
Sun City Ultra Triathlon Entries Extended
Due to popular demand the race organizers of the Sun City Ultra Triathlon have kept pre entries open until the 16th of April. “Our race office has been inundated by emails and phone calls post ironman from athletes wanting to enter depending on how their legs recover” says race director Damian Bradley. ” We have therefore decided to keep the pre-entries open for another week. Pre entries will now be open until 5pm on the 16th of April. Thereafter late entries will be allowed if there is space available.
Sun City's first Ultra Triathlon looks to be taking Gauteng by storm. Organisers , B-Active Sports have increased the allowed field to 1200 athletes, across the two distances. This field will make it Gauteng's biggest triathlon and the 3rd biggest Triathlon in South Africa. Athletes will be treated to one of the most beautiful running routes in Africa, with a 2 lap 21km running course around the Gary Player and Lost City Golf courses. Athletes will also be treated to free entrance to the Valley of the waves as well as some exclusive Race merchandise and apparel. There will be loads for the family to do while Mom or Dad competes, so get to Sun city on the 10th of May and show your support for the athletes sweating it out to the finish line.
Achilles heel injury prevents Fredericks from defending SA title
An Achilles heel injury will prevent Cornel Fredericks from defending his 400-hurdles title next week at the South African Athletics Championships in Stellenbosch.
Because of the seriousness of his injury Fredericks will not be able to do any running on the track for the next 4-6 weeks and he was forced to cancel his international campaign. Depending on his rehabilitation the earliest he will be able to race again could be middle June, maybe even later.
In spite of his setback Fredericks is confident that his season will not be a total write-off. He still hopes to be able to represent South Africa at the World Championships in Beijing.
Fredericks, a High Performance Centre (hpc) athlete, won the South African title four times during the past five years (2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014).
Fredericks make no secret about his disappointed at not being able to defend his title.
“It will be the first time since 2005 that I will not compete at a national championship. It is one of only a few opportunities that I get to race in front of my own people and it is therefore very special.”
According to Fredericks he had been battling Achilles problems for the past two years.
“Last year it was my left Achilles that gave me problems but, because there was not really anything I could do about it except some stretches and going for physiotherapy, I continued to compete. At the end of my season I took a complete break from running for five weeks.
“This season my injury woes continued when my right Achilles started to become painful. At one stage it was so bad that even when I walked a few steps after waking up, I was in pain. A scan showed that there are little tears in my Achilles.
“The injuries proved to me that I am, after all, just human and that I should listen to my body and not try to run through the pain.
Fredericks is full of praise for the support he is receiving from the hpc, the South African Sports Confederation, the Olympic Committee (Sascoc), as well as from Wayne Coleman who is helping him with his rehabilitation.
Apart from his injuries, Fredericks is also not sure who his going to be his coach. There is a strong possibility that he will be coached by one of England’s top coaches but nothing has been finalized yet.
Last year Fredericks became the first South African athlete to win gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, the African Athletics Championships, as well as at the Continental Cup meeting in the same year.
Another highlight for Fredericks was finishing as the third-best 400-hurdles athlete in the IAAF Diamond League, which was in itself a great achievement.
Fredericks is also proud of the fact that he was able to run times faster than 49 seconds in seven of his 15 races last year.
MERRELL Autumn Night Series #1 went down in CT this week
(Words: Sarah Hearn)
Autumn: waiting on the platform in the dust of a departing Summer, anxiously peering down the tracks for the scheduled train of Winter. Bikini on body, beanie in hand. The Merrell Autumn Trail Night Series embraces this period of transition by easing us through the change from sweaty hot sports to shivering cold ones with good humoured races through the vineyards in the moonlight shadow of Table Mountain.
In its third year at Groot Constantia Wine Estate, the first of three in the series had a remarkable turnout on Wednesday night. Each race demands a different route and runners now get to enjoy some single forested track and dam walls through neighbouring Klein Constantia. A few were shocked at the new course, but only because they didn’t apply listening skills during the “don’t touch the fence” briefing. Although general consensus was that there is nothing klein about some of those short hills, it was enthusiastically agreed that this was the best designed trail so far.
The 5,5km and 8km trails take athletes on a loop marked with reflective tags that direct them back to Simon’s Restaurant where scrumptious burgers are devoured. Aquelle bottled water is given out to runners at the finishing table, flowing naturally into free wine tastings offered by Groot Constantia.
Black Diamond powers this and all Mountain Runner evening events. They are on hand to provide that essential item required to run around in the dark at prices significantly lighter than normal. Although who are we to put asunder some of those special race relationships forged by several footsteps sharing one lightbeam?
Once again Merrell gave their full support to this event, living out their ethos: Achieve. Never Settle. Hit the Trail. OUT. PERFORM. and encouraging all participants to do the same.
It all happens again on the 15th and 22nd April. Full details on www.mountainrunner.co.za Race results and Mark Sampson’s photos capturing grimaces and grins on Mountain Runner Events facebook page.
Can A South African Female Win Comrades This Year?
Caroline Wöstmann’s victory in the Two Oceans ultra-race has led to many experts predicting that a South African female athlete could also win the Comrades.
Lindsey Parry, who coaches Wöstmann as well as Charné Bosman (who finished 5th) is confident that it is just a matter of time before one of the South African female athletes wins the Comrades.
“On Saturday Caroline had one of those dream days which most athletes experience only a few times during their careers. I really think that if she could run the way she ran on Saturday, she could won the Comrades as well.
“What we need to do now is make sure that she recovers fully. Then she needs a couple of weeks of hard training before we start to refresh her for the Comrades. Hopefully she will have similar form at the Comrades.
“This is what we will be aiming for. However, we fully realize that it won’t be easy to win the Two Oceans and the Comrades in the same year. Only a handful of athletes have been able to do so,” said Parry, who works as a sports scientist and coach at the High Performance Centre (hpc).
Parry describes Wöstmann as a late developer.
“In 2010 her personal best time in the 10km was about 56 minutes and for 21km it was 1 hour and 50 minutes. At the beginning of last year her best marathon time was just over 3 hours, but by the end of the year it has improved to 2 hours and 43 minutes in quite windy conditions.
“She would possibly have run a much faster marathon time if she had started earlier and just focussed on the marathon. Caroline is one of those athletes who just get stronger and stronger. It is also a result of the extremely consistent training she has been doing.”
Parry is also impressed by Maxwell’s ultra-race debut.
“At one time during the Two Oceans I thought Tanith was going to win but unfortunately for her she just ran out of road.
“Charné also had a good race, sticking exactly to the race plan we had agreed on beforehand. She is certainly on track to run a good Comrades.”
Bosman (hpc/Nedbank) said one of the reasons why all three of them performed well at the Two Oceans is that Parry is a very dedicated coach who realizes that there is no blueprint for success.
“He goes out of his way to find out what will work and what will not work for each of us and only then he begins to formalize a race plan.
“One of the big differences in Lindsey’s coaching strategy is that he does not believe that we should go out hard day after day. In my training program there are only two hard days, the rest of the sessions are long runs. But when Lindsey says it is hard day, it is hard day. You have to give it your all.”
Off-road Rock-Hopper
Nicolette Griffioen is ready to take on the world’s best next month when she jets off to France to represent South Africa at the IAU World Ultra Trail Champs on 30 May, but first she chats about her gift for tackling the technical.
In October last year, when she won the inaugural Cape Town Ultra Trail 100km, Nicolette effectively booked her place for the World Champs, but that didn’t stop her going on to chase down a second SA Ultra Trail Champs title at the end of January, at the Ultra Trail Mount Moodie in Mpumalanga. In fact, the 22-year-old finished fifth overall in 10:54:21, beating many of the men home! That guaranteed her ticket to France, alongside World Champs veterans Su Don-Wauchope, Chantel Nienaber and Tracy Zunckel. “Su was my main competitor in Mpumalanga and she passed me on a flat section, but at 50km she was walking, so I passed her and then worked hard to keep a distance,” says Nicolette.
Her national team selection also came just after an impressive win at the Totalsports XTERRA off-road triathlon in Buffelspoort a week earlier. Then in February, despite a disastrous swim, she still managed a fourth place at the XTERRA SA Champs in Grabouw in the Cape. Now, however, her focus has shifted back to trail running. “Going to the World Champs is an opportunity of a lifetime and I’m so excited! It’s a different ballgame and sometimes I feel I need to slow down on the ultras, because I’m still young, but I can never say no!”
Competitive Streak
It’s strange to think that Nicolette was not very active at school, apart from gracing the hockey fields. “I hated athletics! The real change was when I took a gap year after changing my course to veterinary science so I went to gym a lot, became a spinning instructor and did some running on the treadmill.” Then she entered her first race, a 10km trail run, and picked up third place. After that she was hooked and found her competitiveness driving her on.
“I was a 30km runner in the beginning and then moved up to 40km for my first Otter Trail Marathon at the age of 19. Then I got an entry into last year’s Cape Town Ultra Trail, and I didn’t actually train the bigger distances, so it’s amazing how it turned out. The last 20km were the longest of my life, though!” Now with two ultra trail events under her belt, Nicolette says she has realised she has the mental capacity to stick it out, especially once she gets past halfway: “After 50km, you know that you’re actually heading back towards the finish, so there’s no pulling out then, and I’m far too competitive to quit, anyway.” With six more years of studying at Onderstepoort to become a vet, Nicolette structures her days around morning and afternoon training sessions, with Saturdays reserved for long runs or bike rides, and Sundays her rest day. Living on a small holding near Lanseria provides a convenient base for training, where she often runs with her loyal dog of three years, Dobby, by her side. In fact, her afternoon training runs have become an obligation. “My dog has become obsessed with running. From four o’clock, she starts scratching on the door – there’s now a hole in the door from her enthusiasm – so it’s always a given that she’s out with me. Also, with my boyfriend Nathan also a keen runner and mountain biker, and my mom doing her first event at Buffelspoort, there will always be someone I can train with, and they always support me.”
No Fear
Looking ahead to after the World Champs, Nicolette is hoping to take the win at the Otter in October. “I love getting over rocks, descending, going through rivers, tackling obstacles. I’m more cautious on my bike after some recent falls, but I have no fear when it comes to running the technical courses.” She is also looking to take part in the AfricanX, SkyRun and the Big 5 Challenge in Knysna, and adds that triathlon will also remain a focus. “I like the mix of triathlon, especially off-road, but my main goal is to travel to different continents to race.” So France is just the first stop…
Two-hour Target
The men’s marathon world record has come a long way in the last 100 years, but now the question on everybody’s lips is whether anyone can dip under the two-hour mark. Yes, say a group of leading sports scientists from all around the world, and hopefully soon, too.
In 1908, the first time the standard distance of 42.2km was run at the London Olympics, the world record was set at 2:55:18 by American John Hayes. (The race was actually won by Italian Dorando Pietri in 2:54:46, but he was famously assisted by race officials after collapsing several times on the track, and was later disqualified.) By 1925 Albert Michelsen of the USA had broken through the 2:30 mark, and the first sub-2:20 was posted in 1953 by James Peters of Great Britain, followed 14 years later by the first sub-2:10, by Derek Clayton of Australia. The next 21 years saw just five new marks set, culminating in Ethiopian Belayneh Dinsamo’s 2:06:50 in 1988, and that record then stood for more than 10 years, seeming unbeatable…
However, in 1998 Ronaldo da Costa of Brazil got the record ball rolling again, and the next ‘barrier’ to go saw Kenyan Paul Tergat clock 2:04:55 in 2003, and then his great rival, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, took the record one second below 2:04 in 2008. After that it was all Kenya: Patrick Makau of Kenya clocked 2:03:38 in 2011, followed by Wilson Kipsang’s 2:03:23 in 2013, and then Dennis Kimetto set the current world record of 2:02:57 in September 2014 at the Berlin Marathon. And after every one of these records was set, the whole debate about whether any man can still go faster was argued all over again – and whether the two-hour barrier will ever be broken. Some reckon it is only a matter of time, while others say that the human body is simply not capable of doing it. But then, that’s what they said about the four minute mile back in the 1950s, and today the mile world record stands at 3:43:13!
MARATHON MISSION
Now there is an international group of scientists heading up the Sub2hr project, the first dedicated international research initiative made up of scientists, athletes and industry partners, who are pooling their resources and expertise with the aim of achieving that magical first sub-2:00. Launched in December 2014 and led by Professor Yannis Pitsiladis of the University of Brighton, the group includes former marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie as well as Cape Town’s Professor Andrew Bosch of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa. (He also coaches top SA female marathoner Tanith Maxwell.)
“We believe that left to the current situation, the world record will just carry on improving little bit by little bit, and maybe in 20 to 30 years a sub-2:00 may become a possibility. However, our project hopes to fast-forward the process, by making the best science, medicine and technology available to targeted athletes, and help them get there sooner,” explains Andrew. “We’re going to try to adopt a Formula 1 mentality in marathoning: Throw enough money at it until you can go as fast and possible! Even if that is not sub-2:00, we at least hope to see a big jump in the record, and show how science and medicine can contribute to running progress.”
NUTS AND BOLTS
Andrew explains that the plan is to spend the first year putting the infrastructure in place to generate funding and getting the various sub-sections of the project established. “For example, I am involved in the nutrition package, and the other packages include biomechanics, training, psychology and anti-doping. The programmes developed will be tailored to the specific needs of the athletes we identify to be part of the project, and we will look at current world leaders as well as the emerging next generation, so we may see somebody currently running 26 minutes for 10km and identify that athlete as a potential world record marathoner of the future.”
That all said, one athlete who will not form part of the study but who will still be very much involved is Haile Gebrselassie, who is not only a close personal friend of the study leader, but is very much behind the project, says Andrew. “He is keen to see the two-hour barrier approached, if not broken, and he told us his only regret is that this project didn’t happen long ago, so he could have had a go at the barrier!”
For more info on the project, go to www.sub2hrs.com
Kimetto Can
Having run the fastest marathon debut in history when he clocked 2:04:16 in the 2012 Berlin Marathon, Dennis Kimtto then went on to break the world record in Berlin in 2014, lowering the mark to 2:02:57.
MA: Last year in Berlin, were you chasing the record, or was the win your first priority?
DENNIS: I went there to win the race, but when I reached 25km and saw the time on the timing car just in front of me, I said to myself, this can be done. I felt like I could break the record, because in Chicago I tried but didn’t succeed, running 2:03:45. So from there, I started pushing, but I was still surprised when I finished and saw I had not only broken 2:03, but taken 26 seconds off the record!
MA: No doubt everybody keeps asking you about the record and if you can go faster?
DENNIS: Many people ask me, so you’ve broken the record and gone under 2:03, now can you break it again, and even go under two hours. I think that is possible, because they give me enough faith to believe in myself and think I can still do it.
Wilson Wants it Back
He saw his world record tumble just a year after he had set it, but 2:03 marathoner Wilson Kipsang says that just motivates him even more to reclaim it.
MA: How did you feel about losing your world record?
WILSON: I really didn’t feel disappointed, because records are meant to be broken. I took the record from Patrick Mackau and now Dennis has taken it from me. It’s a positive challenge to me, to try to run faster than his time. I think I can run at least a 2:02:30.
MA: Do you think a sub-2:00 is possible?
WILSON: In 10 years I think the record will come down to 2:01, but not sub-2:00. Not yet. I think that could happen in the next generation, but I don’t think the current generation can do it. Now that we have a 2:02:57, the guys will be trying to break 2:03 again, then it will come down to 2:02:30 and 2:02:20, and soon we will have a 2:01. It all starts with the mindset of the athletes, who will go out to beat 2:02:57.
Lightning Bolt
It’s not every day you get to meet the world’s fastest man, so when Puma invited me to New York for the launch of their new Ignite running shoe and the chance to interview multiple world record holder, Olympic and World Champion, Usain Bolt, I had my passport out in a flash!
Jamaican sprinting superstar Usain Bolt is one of the most recognised sports icons in the world, as famous for his dominant wins in all the major meets as he is for the ‘Lightning Bolt’ pose that follows. He is the first man to hold both the 100m and 200m world records (9.58s and 19.19s) since automatic time measurement became mandatory in 1977, and also holds the 4x100m relay world record (45.28s) along with his Jamaican teammates. He is the reigning Olympic champion in all three events, the first man to win six Olympic golds in sprinting, the first man to do the ‘Double Double’ of 100m and 200m titles at consecutive Olympics (and the first to do the ‘Double Triple’ with the relay thrown in), and is an eight-time World Champion.
And yet, in spite of all the medals, records, endorsements, awards and media limelight, he is an approachable, down to earth guy who is clearly very focused on his athletics career, and I was blown away by the great man’s candid honesty and terrific sense of humour. Here’s what he had to say.
MA: Your 2014 season was hampered by a hamstring injury that eventually required surgery. How are you feeling now?
USAIN: Last season I felt the pain all the time, but didn’t pay it much mind – I just thought it was normal track and field pain. But then it became a problem. The surgery went fine and it’s all good, so now it’s important for me to stay injury-free this season and go into next season on the front foot for Rio. The competition should be good this season, especially the World Champs in Beijing later this year, so I am looking forward to it.
MA: If you win a gold medal in Rio, you’d be the first man to win three Olympic titles in a row…
USAIN: I will win in Rio! I live for competition, and it means a lot to beat the best in this sport.
MA: Do you reckon you can go faster than 9.58?
USAIN: My motto in life is that anything is possible, so it’s all about getting into the best shape. And you’d be surprised to hear what my coach says. I remember the first time I ran a world record, here in New York, and I thought that was the perfect race, but he said no. Then I ran another great race in Berlin and he said I slowed down again just before the line. I think coaches see things differently, the little things that can be adjusted to improve still further, and every time I run a fast race he still finds something to say about it. I remember at the London Olympics, I said I want to get a good start, and he said ‘Listen, stop worrying about the start, because you’re not a good starter – you’ve only ever had one good start in your career – so just go out there and you’ll be alright.’ That actually put my mind at ease.
MA: Is there anything you are doing differently as you get older?
USAIN: I just tweak things here and there, because as they say, if nothing’s broke, don’t fix it. One thing I have changed, though, is my diet – a lot more vegetables, and I’ve backed off the fast food, which I used to eat late at night. Now if I’m hungry, I eat fruits, which is just weird! But that’s what coach says, and it works, so it’s alright.
MA: Having won everything, is motivation an issue for you these days?
USAIN: I have discussed it with my coach, and one of the things he has pointed out to me is protecting my legacy in the sport, because it just takes one championship to go wrong for people to start writing, ‘oh, maybe he’s not so good.’
MA: It seems unthinkable to picture Usain Bolt at 33, still competing and starting to get beaten, so do you see yourself going out at the top, perhaps with another three medals at Rio 2016?
USAIN: That was the initial plan, to go out after Rio, but my sponsors have asked me to do one more year beyond Rio, to go to the 2017 World Champs in London, but I’ll just be doing one event then, focusing on the 100m.
MA: And after that?
USAIN: I was really thinking about football, but I did a photo shoot recently in Europe and we were wearing shorts, socks, normal football kit, and it wasn’t even snowing, but it was so cold. I thought to myself, I can’t do this, because this cold is ridiculous! Also, I had always wanted to play for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, but now he’s retired, so it’s looking doubtful.
MA: Puma is now sponsoring Arsenal, so if you were offered a few hundred thousand pounds a week to play for them, would you do it?
USAIN: No, I could not play for Arsenal ever! I actually knew before they announced it that Puma was going to sign Arsenal, so I said ‘Bosses, let’s talk about this. I’m not going to do any shoots with Arsenal kit on, and don’t even send me the gear, because I don’t need it!
MA: You’re known for your showmanship and clowning around as much as for your speed…
USAIN: I have always tried to be a funny person and I think that’s what makes people enjoy watching me compete. I bring a lot of energy, and I think people want to see your personality, so I try to have fun and make people laugh. Also, I’ve learnt over the years that if you think too much about your race, the only thing you do is make yourself more nervous… so I try to enjoy the moment as much as I can. And then when it’s time to get into the blocks, there’s no time to get nervous, you just get on with it.
MA: What inspired your Lightning Bolt celebration?
USAIN: It just happened, really. It was a dance in Jamaica called To the World, and I just put my own spin on it and made it my own. It was one of those moments, like when Michael Jordan dunked in basketball and that became his pose forever, and it works for me.
The First Double Quadruple
If everything goes according to script, the finish of the 2015 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon is going to herald one especially amazing finish when 64-year-old Louis Massyn comes home to not only claim his 40th Two Oceans medal, but also become the first athlete to complete both the Oceans and Comrades ultras 40 times. And there’s no sign of him stopping there, either.
Having run his first Comrades in 1973, Louis Massyn undertook his first ‘voyage’ at Two Oceans in 1976, and he can still remember the details. “My ticket to fly down to Cape Town from the Free State cost R47, and when I went back on the Drakensberg train, the ticket cost R45. I still have both tickets in my scrapbook,” he says. “The race was very small back then, just over 300 runners, and I can still remember that I ran in race number 118 and Alan Robb was wearing 119. It was raining that year, and when we started on the rugby field inside the Brookside sports grounds, there was a hell of a bottleneck at the gate to get out. As the years went on and the field got bigger, the start moved to the road outside the grounds. Now it’s so big that we have to finish up at UCT!”
This year, Louis and Tony Abrahamson should become the second and third runners to earn their ‘Quadruple Blue,’ joining Noel Stamper (41 medals) in the Two Oceans 40 Club, but Louis will add another remarkable record to his name when he becomes the first athlete to finish both of South Africa’s premier ultras 40 times. He is currently on 42 medals for the Comrades Marathon, tied second on the ‘Big C’ list. His Two Oceans medal haul consists of six silver, 31 bronze and two blue medals, and he can boast an impressive PB of 3:41, which he ran in 1981, and he says his 3:57:30 silver in his tenth Oceans remains one of his favourite running memories. However, it is the silvers he missed out on that he remembers more clearly. “In 1988 I missed that four-hour cut-off by less than a minute, and I never ran another silver after that, so I remember it for all the wrong reasons. But other than that I only have good memories of Oceans, and that’s what keeps me coming back year after year.”
One Heck of a Sermon!
It all started in 1972 when 22-year-old Louis was sitting in the Anglican Church in Odendaalsrus, listening to the Bishop of Bloemfontein comparing confirmation to the physical nature of the Comrades Marathon. “It slowly dawned on me that I had to run the Comrades Marathon. Not later in life, but now,” says Louis. “At the time I was working for Ford in the motor industry, so I got one of our dealers in Durban to organise me an entry form, and then my mom offered to buy me my first pair of running shoes, so of course, I went to the sport shop in Welkom and chose the most expensive adidas pair, for a whole R23! The guy selling them to me still said, ‘Pal, you know how far Comrades is? You need at least two pairs of shoes!’ I thought about that while travelling to Durban by train, so a few days before the race I went and bought a R4.99 pair of no-name brand shoes, and then I decided to run in them, to save my expensive ones.”
Louis duly finished that Comrades without any problems, but he admits the race was tough. After all, it was his first ever race… he didn’t run anything shorter to build up to the 90km ultra! “I can remember it like the palm of my hand. I didn’t know what the black stuff was that the other runners were drinking, so asked my seconds to ask them, and found out it was Coke. So I bought myself a few tins along the route and also drank Coke.”
Years later he was back, this time in his adidas shoes, and since then he has not only changed brand, because he says the adidas shoes have always fitted his feet so well, but he also kept every single pair he ran in. “I always said I would build them into a bar counter, but that never happened. Instead, the guys at adidas had a huge perspex 40 display made when I ran my 40th Comrades and mounted all my shoes in it, and that is now on display in our Goudveld clubhouse in Odensdalsrus. Since then adidas has sponsored me as well, and I am very grateful for that.”
On the Road Again
Louis lives in Odendalsrus with wife Rita and for the past 10 years has worked as a medical rep selling Drawtex, a locally produced absorbent dressing for wounds that works on a similar principle to moisture-management sports clothing. It means he is on the road a lot, travelling all over the country, but he doesn’t let that stop him from running. “I make time to run, and enjoy running in different places and meeting new people.”
Looking ahead, Louis says he has no intention of hanging up his running shoes any time soon. “My goal is to run until my body will no longer carry me – totdat my bene stompies is – and they’re not stompies yet! I would eventually like to have the most medals in both races, but I’m just taking it one year at a time and enjoying my running. We have a great camaraderie amongst the 40 Club runners, and always support each other, so it’s just an honour to be amongst such great runners.”
Multi Medal Man
In terms of the unofficial world rankings for years participating in ultra-marathons, Louis is currently ranked 17th after 42 years of running, and will move up to 12th position after the 2015 Comrades. (That list is still headed up by the late Wally Hayward, who first ran the Comrades in 1930 and then ran his last one 59 years later!) But when you look at the combination of medals earned in the Two Oceans and Comrades, then Louis jumps right up to the top of the rankings.
All-time Two Oceans Medallists
41 Noel Stamper
39 Louis Massyn
39 Tony Abrahamson
37 Riel Hugo
36 Ian Bocock
36 John Mugglestone
36 Mark Wagenheim
All-time Comrades Medallists
45 Dave Rogers
42 Clive Crawley
42 Barry Holland
42 Louis Massyn
41 Dave Lowe
41 Alan Robb
40 Kenny Craig
40 Riel Hugo
40 David Williams
All-time Oceans-Comrades Combo
81 Medals (39 TO / 42 C) – Louis Massyn
77 Medals (37 TO / 40 C) – Riel Hugo
67 Medals (34 TO / 33 C) – Hercu Hofmeyr
65 Medals (28 TO / 37 C) – Wietsche van der Westhuizen
64 Medals (26 TO / 38 C) – Caspar Greeff
64 Medals (31 TO / 33 C) – Ricky Knoesen
63 Medals (31 TO / 32 C) – Ian Benson
63 Medals (33 TO / 30 C) – Frank Clarke
63 Medals (27 TO / 36 C) – Lionel De Haas
* All medal tallies taken before the 2015 editions of the Two Oceans or Comrades.