Category: Features

With personal best times of 1:47.74 for the 800m, 3:59.29 for the mile, the SA national record for 5000m at 13:04.88 and 27:41.30 for the 10,000m, coupled with road PBs of 28:18 for 10km and 1:01:09 for the half marathon, Elroy Gelant is one of the most versatile distance athletes in SA, and though he recently made his marathon debut, he still has his eyes firmly fixed on the track. – BY REGGIE HUFKIE

In 2016, Elroy made the men's 5000m final at the Olympic Games in Rio, clinched a silver medal in the 10,000m at the CAA African Championships in Durban, and set a new South African 5000m record along the way when he clocked 13:04.88 in the Netherlands. It was a brilliant year on the track for the Potchefstroom-based athlete. Then at the 2017 SA Champs in his current hometown, the 31-year-old started the 5000m too fast and hit the wall with 2000m to go, but held on through sheer determination for the silver medal, and came back the very next day to win the 10,000m national title.

Unfortunately, he did not quite do enough to qualify for the 2017 IAAF Track and Field World Championships, but that disappointment was tempered not only by his continued success on the track, but also his success on the road. This year has also seen him take home another silver medal at the South African Half Marathon Championships, clocking a blisteringly fast 1:01:30, and he ran an equally fast 28:16 solo effort for 10km in Cape Town, which until recently was the fastest time in SA for the year. Then he made the big move – one he has been talking about for a while now – and stepped up the marathon for the first time, at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in September.

Going Long…
“Last year I was a pacemaker at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, so this year I decided it's the perfect time to make my full debut. After making the decision, I was totally excited to train for it,” says Elroy, whose 1:01:10 half marathon PB, set in 2014, and a 2017 best of 1:01:30, pointed to him being able to post a really fast marathon time. He ran just behind the leaders until the 30km mark, then tried to close the gap, but found himself running alone for the last 5km and ended up slowing down a bit, eventually finishing in 2:12:49, earning him fifth place overall and first South African over the line, but falling a bit short of his own high expectations.

“My goal was to go beyond my limits and I was looking for a 2:09 or 2:10 debut marathon time, but those last 5km were extremely difficult. I needed to believe I could achieve what I had set out for the race, but I can definitely use these opportunities to learn and prepare for future global marathons, and I am very positive to one day run a good time in Europe.”

However, having said before the race that he hoped to use it as a stepping stone towards qualifying for the marathon at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, in a somewhat surprising move, soon after the marathon Elroy said he is putting the marathon on hold – for now – because he still has goals to chase on the track. “This is a very brief outline of my main goals for the next few years. In 2018 I’m going to attempt to break the South African 5000m, 10,000m and 10km records, and my goal is to finish in the top three at the Commonwealth Games. In 2019 I’ll again be attempting the 5000m and 10,000m records, but I will also be targeting a sub-2:08 qualification marathon, and in 2020 my main goal will be a podium position in marathon at the Tokyo Olympics.”

The Challenge
Away from athletics, Gelant enjoys spending time at his family home in Pacaltsdorp, on the outskirts of George in the Southern Cape, where he was taught the importance of living a purpose-driven life. “What keeps me motivated is the belief that God provided me with a talent, and I want to live out that talent fully by giving my best in each race I participate in. Every time I compete, I run against not only the other guys, but also myself and my own ability. It's the best feeling to know that I gave my best on the day, and all of my failures in athletics just serve as extra motivation. Winning medals or championships is only a bonus for me; it's all about my God-given talent and the happiness that comes with it.”

After two freak injuries, Samantha Schoeman is incredibly lucky not to be permanently paralysed, or to have lost a leg, but both times she fought back to fitness, and even took up trail running along the way… in spite of what the doctors said. – BY SEAN FALCONER

It’s probably a bit of an understatement to describe 36-year-old Sam Schoeman as accident-prone… In 2009, while on holiday in Herold’s Bay, she slipped off a cliff, fell about two stories and landed on her back on the rocks below, and was then washed into the sea by the waves. After 10 minutes of being pummelled against the rocks, her boyfriend spotted her, dived in and rescued her. “At the hospital they said my back was just bruised, but a week later I was still in pain, and when they rechecked my X-rays, they found I had broken the transverse process off my L4 vertebrae. That’s the little wing on the bone where the ligaments attach,” says Sam. “Thankfully, after six weeks, the orthopaedic surgeon back in Pretoria said the bone fragment looked to be sorting itself out, so no operation, but by all accounts, I could have been paralysed!”

Having recovered, Sam went back to one of her greatest passions, riding horses, until a second freak accident. While training a young horse in 2012, she fell off and fractured her patella, and the doctor that cleaned the injured knee apparently missed some dirt in the wound. “A week later I was in hospital with potentially fatal gas gangrene, systemic septicaemia and some of the worst pain I have ever experienced. I had to have an emergency knee op, followed four months later by another op, and not a day goes by that I don't thank my lucky stars that my leg didn't need amputation!

Back on her Feet
To rebuild the strength in her knee, Sam started walking, and before long she was regularly doing 5km, but she saw everybody around her running and wanted to join in. “I hadn’t done any running at school due to asthma, but now I started, bit by bit, and fortunately my knee and lungs held up. Soon I was hooked and absolutely loving it, and in 2014 I decided to challenge myself with some short trail races. Then a friend jokingly challenged me to do the Otter Trail Run marathon in 2015, so I said I would if I could get in, even though my longest run up to that point was just 10km! But then I got in, and thought oh hell, what now?”

So Sam, who is the younger sister of Olympic swimming gold medallist Roland, ran the Bastille 28km down in the Cape, followed by the Crazy Store Magaliesberg Challenge 35km, and duly lined up for the Otter Marathon, but once again things didn’t go to plan. “That year’s race is now known as the ‘Snotter-Otter,’ because it rained non-stop, and they pulled all of us backmarkers off the course at the first checkpoint, just 8km in, because the route was getting flooded. I was livid at the time, because the entry was not cheap, and I had prepared myself mentally for running on the rocky coast, due to my fall in 2009, but I do understand it was a huge responsibility for the organisers.”

“After Otter, I needed another knee op, because I had developed osteochondrosis, where the cartilage in the knee peels away, and before the op, the doctor warned me that I may not be able to run again. He added that even if the op went well, I would likely need a knee replacement in my 40s if I kept on running, but I told him I’m going to need a replacement anyway, so why stop doing something that I enjoy, and he said OK.”

No Holding Back
In the meantime, Sam started a new business, BabaGrub, which makes home-made meals for babies and toddlers, and she’s currently getting a new venture going, The Grub Hub, to make prepared meals for athletes. “I do everything myself – the cooking, packaging and delivery – and I’m hoping to bring in a partner soon to grow it.” Earlier this year she also returned to running after more than a year out of action, but experienced chronic pain when she increased her mileage. “The physio said my muscles and joints were seizing up because my stabilising muscles had atrophied, so I am still busy with a rehab programme, because I want to get back to running crazy races.”

“Next year I really want to do the Isimangaliso Trail in St Lucia on the KZN North Coast, and hopefully in 2019 I will go back and avenge my Otter run, because it’s the only race I have not finished! But I am just grateful to have my leg, to be relatively pain-free, and to be able to run and do things the doctors told me I would never be able to do! Whatever the future holds, I know that I am so much stronger than I ever thought I was.”

Just over a year ago, 40-year-old Johannesburg-based software developer Will Addison found himself in front of the mirror, and he didn’t like what he saw. That prompted him to take up running, and in just over a year he has lost 24 kilograms, run his first Comrades, and found a new lease on life. – BY SEAN FALCONER

The date 15 September sticks in Will’s memory. That was the day he saw the reflection of his round figure, then weighed himself and found he was 96kg, heavier than he had ever been. A father of two, Grace (18) and Dylan (15), Will attributes his weight-gain to a combination of factors. “I played a lot of soccer when I was younger and had done spinning at the gym to keep fit, but after coming out of a really bad divorce a few years ago, I got into terrible eating habits. I think life just got on top of me, with one thing after another, especially when Dylan left to go live with his mother in the UK.”

“When I looked in the mirror that day, I saw a man that had let himself go and realised I had to do something with my life, so I took a ‘before picture’ in the mirror and that same day I hit the gym for the first time in a very long time. I ran 2km on the treadmill that day and nearly passed out, but I persevered, and gradually upped my mileage till I was running 5km. In the meantime I cleaned up my diet – no more alcohol, and no more fast food. It was hard, but running made life better, and I came to love my daily run.”

Setting Goals
With his newfound love for running and having grown up watching the Comrades Marathon on TV, Will decided to make the big ultra his goal, but his fiancée Caryn Wilson, an experienced runner with two Comrades medals, told him he wouldn’t be able to run it just on treadmill training, and that he would need to hit the long road and increase his mileage substantially. “So about six weeks after starting running, I found a night run on a golf course and did my first ever 10km. I actually managed OK, so decided to go further. Then Caryn told me about the RAC Tough One 32km in November. I have never felt more sick and more pain in my life! I finished, but I had to lie down at the end, and I lay there wondering how people actually go further than this, let alone do the Comrades.”

Undaunted, Will continued training and went on to run his first marathon in January, at the Johnson Crane event, where he also qualified for Comrades. He followed that up with the Pick n Pay Marathon, Cape Gate Vaal Marathon, Old Mutual Om Die Dam 50km, and the RAC Long One 60km training run, and by then he had lost 22 kilograms in seven months. “I was really enjoying myself, and life just kept getting better!”

Mission Possible
And so June arrived and Will lined up for his first Comrades. “Honestly, it was the most daunting thing I had ever done, but I had my mentor Caryn running alongside me the whole way, just as she had been throughout my running journey. My aim was just to finish under 12 hours, but at 60km my body started shutting down, and from 70km it became really difficult. On Polly Shortts I saw runners collapsing and throwing up, and at the back of my mind I said I must just keep going. I felt that if I stopped, my legs would seize up and I would be done, so I just kept moving. We finished in 10:40, and I have to admit, I was in total disbelief that I had come so far in eight months. OK, I was completely dead afterwards, but I was so proud, because I had proven a lot of people who had doubted me wrong.”

With a hugely successful first year of running under his belt, Will is looking forward to 2018. “I’m entered again for the Comrades, and I also want to try other races, to see the scenery. I’m mixing running with strength training, because I want to chase my times – not so long ago running 55 minutes for 10km seemed an insurmountable challenge, but now I’m doing 53 minutes and feeling OK. I’m also quite happy with my current weight… I am now 72, so I have lost 24 kilograms in a year! You know, when this journey started, the first few weeks of training were incredibly difficult, but I never gave up, and I hope my story will motivate other people that anything is possible.”

Some 23 years ago, Youssef Kanouni followed his running dreams from Morocco’s northern mountainous region to the foot of Cape Town’s Table Mountain. The quiet man with an iron resolve not only fell in love with the Rainbow Nation and decided to stay, but also found true love here. – BY PJ MOSES

Elana Meyer’s silver medal in the 10,000m final at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics had the whole of South Africa cheering, but it also inspired a young man watching in Casablanca, Morocco. “I came to South Africa as a 21-year-old in 1994 to further my running, because Elana’s medal-winning run in Barcelona inspired me and made me look at South Africa with different eyes,” says Youssef.

He arrived in Cape Town with an impressive running CV, having been part of a golden generation of emerging young Moroccan runners that saw him training alongside Hicham El Guerrouj, who would go on to win two Olympic gold medals and still holds the 1500m World Record. “We trained at the same camp and were from an identical background with a similar upbringing. He showed us what was possible with hard work,” says Youssef. “I was a good school athlete and competed at the Moroccan National Champs. I ran middle distance on track and also ran cross country, winning many races.” Another close running friend was Khalid Khannouchi, who later broke the Marathon World Record twice.

Running Activist
Raised in a devout Muslim family by parents he adored, Youssef was taught to always do his best in life, and as much good as he can. This philosophy still affects everything he does today: A family man and activist, he splits his time between his training and working on various projects in the poorer communities. He’s a police reservist, an activist for low-cost housing, and a charity runner for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF). He says he is a firm believer that sport can change the lives of young people and that they can be so much more than their circumstances allow them to be. “I want to teach them that if you can’t do it with a book, you can do it with your legs. The power of a nation comes from its youth, so if we look after the youth, we will have a stronger nation.”

On the road, Youssef boasts a marathon PB of 2:36, and he also took on the big ultras a few years after arriving in SA, with a best of 4:18:42 at the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon in 1997 and a 7:56:03 at Comrades in 2001 amongst his early highlights. However, he lost the passion for the sport later in 2001 when his mother passed away, and it took him 10 years to rediscover that fire in his belly. That happened in 2011 when he saw some old friends training around Rondebosch Common, and all the old instincts kicked in again. “When I came back I was a little chubby, so I had to do a lot of training to get back to who I was.”

His comeback was greatly helped by finding love on the road with fellow runner Mushfiqah, and they were married six months after meeting at a race. Youssef says their shared active lifestyle has been a blessing for both of them. “She has been my rock, and I think I have been an inspiration to her. I helped to coach her to her first marathon finish, and it took her just two months to go from the half marathon to the full.”

On the Comeback
Having regained his fitness, Youssef posted a brilliant 4:01 in the 2012 Two Oceans, and 4:02 in 2013, just missing out on a coveted silver medal. In 2012, he also set a Comrades PB of 7:22:22, and more highlights were to follow. “One of my proudest moments came at the 2015 Western Province 100km Championships, where I finished in second place.” However, he does not just run for himself: Youssef recently joined the Western Province Pacesetters and loves helping others achieve their running goals. “I always speak to my passengers, because I want them to feel happy in my bus. They must know it is going to take hard work to achieve their goals, but that I will help them to do it – and I always let them cross the line in front of me, because it is not about me.”

Looking ahead, Youssef says his next big goal lies overseas. “I am going to run the Istanbul Marathon in November, but that is just a step toward my ultimate goal of winning the Palestine Marathon.” He also wants to get his Comrades permanent number, needing just two more finishes, but this has unfortunately been put on hold because the 2018 race date falls within the Muslim holy month of Ramadaan for the next few years. A plea by Muslim runners to move the race date has been unsuccessful, but he remains hopeful. “We hope that when the 2019 race comes along, the powers that be will have a heart and move the race to a date that will accommodate Muslim runners. For now, all I can do is train hard and be ready.”

While water can keep you hydrated on the long run, sports drinks give back the carbs, sodium and potassium lost in long-haul, high-intensity events. – BY CHRISTINE PETERS, REGISTERED DIETICIAN

When you exercise, you produce heat, which your body controls through sweating, but you can then steadily become dehydrated, especially if running in high heat or humidity. As little as 2% dehydration can affect your athletic performance, so athletes are told to drink regularly and top up on fluids. Now, if you are running for less than 60 minutes, water should be enough to stay hydrated and save kilojoules, but if running longer than 60 minutes, sports drinks are recommended.

Therefore, sports drinks are recommended for endurance athletes trying to reach peak performance, especially if sweating a lot, because they provide fluids to cool down your body and replace what you lost in sweat, carbohydrates for quick energy, and sodium and potassium, the chief minerals lost in sweat.

Of course, fluid needs vary from person to person, and according to the type of activity and the length of time that you are active, but as a general rule of thumb, runners should:
• Drink one to two cups of sport drink four hours or less before exercise.
• Keep fluids with you when you run and sip regularly to replace water lost through sweat, but let your thirst guide you.
• Post-run, eat your meals and snacks and drink as you feel you need to, but especially drink up to 1.5 cups (375 ml) of fluid if you have not produced any urine, or only a small amount of bright yellow urine.
• Water is always a good option post-run, but you can also drink milk or chocolate milk, 100% fruit juice or another sports drink.

What to Look For
1. Water: Make sure your sports drink is not carbonated, so it is easy to drink and doesn’t make you feel full.
2. Sodium: The white powder on your clothes or skin is the salt you lose in sweat, and this loss can lead to muscle cramps, so sports drinks should contain at least 300 to 700mg of sodium per litre. Athletes prone to cramping may require more.
3. Carbohydrate (sugar): Sugar keeps blood glucose from dropping and helps fuel active muscles and the brain, so 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour of activity can improve endurance, power output and delay fatigue. To prevent stomach problems, make sure your drink has no more than 80 grams of carbohydrate per litre, as that is generally the limit of what your body can easily absorb.
4. Flavour: Drinks with flavour are easier to swallow, especially when you’re tired.

Most importantly, experiment with a new sports drink in training first before using it in a race, as you don’t want to find out mid-race that something doesn’t work for you, or disagrees with your stomach!

About the Author
Christine is a registered dietician based in the Johannesburg area.

Multi-stage trail running events continue to grow in popularity throughout South Africa, but understandably, they are usually substantially more expensive than single-day running events, as the entry fee often covers accommodation, meals and transport. This means there are some runners who simply cannot afford these races, but thanks to sponsors like RCS Group, a few trail newcomers got to enjoy the spectacular beauty of the recent RCS SOX three-day trail run in the Garden Route area of the Southern Cape. – BY SEAN FALCONER

With a CEO who is an avid runner and has completed the Old Mutual Two Oceans Ultra-marathon, and with many other runners amongst its staff, it comes as no surprise to see that financial services provider, the RCS Group, has thrown its support behind running in a big way. The group sponsors the three-day SOX event, and also sponsors the Gugulethu Athletics Club in Cape Town.

As CEO Regan Adams explains, “RCS has always had a strong connection with the running community, and we have a long-standing relationship with the Gugulethu Athletics Club, which encourages running in disadvantaged communities. We understand the importance of staying active and connecting with nature, and what better way to do this than with one of South Africa’s most beautiful trail runs? We were therefore pleased to invite some of our Gugs members to Knysna and expand their running experience. That’s what we’re about, making things possible for people.”

SIGNED UP TO RUN
That saw RCS sponsor the entries and race participation of Peter Tsawayo, Coceka Qomiyana, Nceba Mabulu and Imran Paya, all going in the team section, and Phumeza Bobotyane running as a solo entry. Imran and Peter were already experienced trail runners, with an impressive record of trail race wins or podium finishes. Imran (40) has been running for nine years and boasts best times of a 2:36 marathon and 6:36 for the Comrades. Meanwhile, Peter (36) has been running for 16 years, and has bests of 29 minutes for 10km and 1:07 for the half marathon. When asked what the RCS sponsorship meant for them, Imran says, “The sponsorship could have gone to someone else, but here I’m the one who was chosen to go. Words can’t justify how honoured and grateful I feel for that.”

On the other end of the experience spectrum, it was a first foray into trail running for Coceka (35) and Nceba (28). Coceka has been running for seven years and has done a 3:55 marathon, and she says running “gives me a special moment to talk to myself.” After two years of running, Nceba can look back on a marathon PB of 3:37 and openly admits to being addicted to running, “but it’s a healthy addiction that makes me feel strong. The thing I love best is that running has taught me that I can do things I never thought I could do!” They also expressed huge thanks for the RCS sponsorship: “I always wanted to participate in a big trail run, and RCS has made it possible for me,” says Nceba.

ENJOYING THE TRAILS
As regular contenders in both road and trail runs, it was no surprise to see Imran and Peter setting the pace on day one, and they led from start to finish in the 30km stage, completing it in two hours 45 minutes. With a healthy lead in the bag, they could take their foot off the pedal a bit on day two and conserve energy for the final day, so they took 2:50 for the next 30km – not that much slower, but running within themselves. They then led the entire 20km of stage three, coming home in 1:39 for an overall time of 7:14:15 for the 80km distance, and the 2017 SOX title.

“I was very happy with my second SOX stage race, because it was very well organised, from our travelling to our accommodation, and we did well, even though we got lost a bit along the way. We could have run faster, but since we were in the lead after the first day, we took it easy the other two days. We enjoyed the run so much because we had prepared and trained hard for the three days, and our sponsor, RCS, gave us everything so we could enjoy every moment,” says Peter.

A bit further back, Coceka and Nceba came home 14th team overall, and sixth in the mixed category, with a combined time of 10:21:38, having both thoroughly enjoyed their first trail experience, while Phumeza finished in 12:26:48. “I must say, it was a memorable experience,” says Nceba. “Running on three consecutive days of tough trails was not easy, and required good mental strength, but if given an opportunity, I’ll definitely run it again!” Echoing his thoughts, Coceka says, “Running SOX was an experience of a lifetime. I feel like a new person after going deep into those forests, crossing those rivers, and climbing those hills, and I am stronger than before. Thanks to RCS for giving me the opportunity to run this amazing event!”

We have so many athletes in South Africa hitting the roads and trails to raise money for or awareness of important, deserving causes, and we want to give them the publicity they deserve for their efforts.

Running for the Kids – By Zoe Papadakis

I am a KZN-based trail runner and when I tackled my first ultra-trail run in August, the 50km Umgeni River Run, I decided to run it to raise funds for Child Welfare Durban and District, so I put out a call for family, friends and members of the public to ‘sponsor a kilometre.’ It was such an incredible, liberating, amazing, tough and challenging adventure, and it was insanely exciting to place second in the race, but there were times that I wanted to just stop, cry and give-up… until I thought about the amazing support everyone had shown to my fundraising campaign, and that kept me going.

I want to share the reasons why I did this, in the hope that it might engage the public to support the initiative. I recently came on board with the organisation as a brand ambassador, and got to know more about what they do. The organisation manages over 4500 different cases involving children that have been at risk. They have several Child and Youth Care Centres that care for 260 children, and nine Community Family Homes, catering for 54 orphans (including siblings). These children have been through so much, and their stories are truly heartbreaking, yet they still manage to smile, to have hope, and to love.

These kids need love, and direction, and this is what Child Welfare is trying to provide. They rely on the public for funding, to provide so many different services to the community, and it is always a struggle to generate enough to do so, and to cloth, feed and care for these kids. This is why I thought it would be ideal to use my running as a fundraiser for them. I think of these children when I am tired, when I don’t want to go out and do a 35km training run, when my body hurts and I want to give up. Because they inspire me with their zest for life, with their strength… and in some way, I hope that my running will not only help with their funding needs, but will also inspire the kids not to give up on their dreams.

For more information, go to https://cwdd.org.za or contact them on [email protected] or 031 312 9313

A Bike for Every Child – By Craig Caldwell

I am a childhood cancer survivor of 30 years, having been diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer) at the age of 13 when growing up in Vanderbijlpark. That’s why I became involved with CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation, and besides helping with Camp Quality, a camp for children with cancer, I take part in cancer walks, ran the Comrades Marathon, and ran from Joburg to Durban, all to raise funds for CHOC. I also created the comedy show Laughing Matters and roped in other comedians to back my cause.

Earlier this year my friend, radio presenter and fellow comedian Sean Stevens received a donation of 17 bicycles to give to a worthy cause, and we decided to look for a reliable place to donate them to. Through my fundraising work, I have had dealings with Louise Coxen, Director of Polokong Children’s Village in Sebokeng, which has five houses accommodating 50 kids permanently, and another 350 kids are fed daily through an outreach programme. So we set about asking on social media for more old bikes to be donated, as our intention was to give every permanent child a bicycle.

We knew it would be difficult, considering the current economic climate, but people like Christo and Michelle Viljoen of Bernies Joint in Koedoespoort, Pretoria took up the challenge. Christo and I have been mates from way back in the 80’s, and he said he would deliver 50 bikes. He and Michelle then hounded people for donations and bikes, and on 23 June, Christo, Michelle and the crew from Bernies as well as a group of car fanatics hit the road to Old Vaaltonians Sports Club for the handover.

In Total 76 bicycles were handed over, the majority being brand new – and we still had Sean’s 17 bikes to look forward to! (He was busy with work commitments at the time.) This meant we could give every child a bicycle, and allow them to keep their bike when they leave the home, and we are now in the position to give a new child that enters the home a bicycle as well! It was amazing to see how the crew and friends of Christo and Michelle opened their hearts and wallets and made many children’s dreams come true.

Modern Athlete receives many letters or pics from runners with a story with a bit of a difference, and we try to publish as many of them as we can, like this contribution from South African Expat Dr Paul Firth, who lives in Boston in the USA. We suspect he rather enjoyed the warm weather at the Comrades this year!

In January 1991, I was in the back of a pick-up truck, riding past a small hospital in south-western Uganda. As a Cape Town medical student hitch-hiking across Africa, I wanted to go in and look round the hospital, but I knew I would not really be able to offer the patients much, either to relieve their suffering or cure their ills.

A quarter century later, Mbarara Hospital is still there, and has been growing slowly but steadily. And I now live in Boston in the USA, where I work at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), delivering anaesthesia for children in the Paediatric Haematology-Oncology Department. The MGH is not only helping children survive cancer in the US, but now is also helping to start a children’s cancer clinic in Uganda, thanks in part to the fundraising running of many of the doctors and staff at MGH.

Since 1998, the Mass General Marathon Team has raised over $10 million to support the paediatric haematology-oncology programme at MGH, as well as other projects. The funds raised are directed to cancer care and research initiatives that enhance the quality of life for the hospital’s youngest cancer patients. This is for a cause dear to my heart – helping children and their families overcome the burden of childhood cancer – because in my job as an anaesthesiologist, I am fortunate to work in the MGH Paediatric Cancer Clinic. I say fortunate, because I get to work alongside heroes – these children facing the massive challenge of beating cancer, and their families who suddenly face the reality of their child being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.

It is a privilege to help these heroes rise to overcome the painful challenges of surgery, anaesthesia, chemotherapy and radiation for their child. And through running, I can help them still further, fighting kids’ cancer, one step at a time.

I ran my first marathon in Cape Town in 1992, and have now done more than 30 in total, including the Boston and London Marathons. I’ve also done the Comrades Marathon three times – twice when I still lived in South Africa, clocking 8:57:54 in the Down Run of 1993 and then a 9:37:31 in 1995, in another Down Run. I ran Comrades again this year, almost 25 years after my first, and I came home in 11:49:31 – much slower than in my younger days! Of course, it may also have been down to the difficulty of training through the Boston winter, which makes doing the peak training from January to March rather difficult, as you can see from a few of my photos!

I run to help raise funds both to support families with a child going through the marathon of cancer care – and to ensure that for other children and parents in another part of the world, a diagnosis of cancer does not mean a diagnosis of slow death. It’s a long and arduous process to train for and run a marathon, especially through a freezing winter, but it’s my friends and family who keep me motivated to keep doing this, and I want to thank everybody who made donations to support the children and their families battling cancer.

Eight years ago at the South African Youth and Junior Championships in Germiston, Antonio Alkana failed to progress to the semi-finals in his specialist 110m hurdles race. Naturally, he was bitterly disappointed… but fast forward to 2017 and he is now the African and SA Record Holder, a 2016 Rio Olympic Games semi-finalist, and recently got engaged. And he’s all smiles these days. – BY REGGIE HUFKIE

At the 11th African Games (formerly known as All-Africa Games) in Brazzaville in Congo in 2015, Antonio Alkana, or Tony as he is known to close friends, introduced himself to world hurdling when he snatched the gold medal in a personal best time of 13.32 seconds, winning his first major title, with a new Games record for good measure. Later that same year, he competed at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, only just missing out on a spot in the semi-finals, but it was a clear indication that he was on the right track.

Then in May 2016, at the Diamond League Meeting in Rabat, Morocco, he clocked a 13.28, taking 0.04 seconds off his best, and only just missing Lehann Fourie’s African and SA Record by 0.04 seconds. A month later, at the 20th CAA African Championships in Durban, Antonio was once again in the spotlight as he flew over the hurdles to win the title in a new championship record of 13.43, and that led to one of his lifelong dreams coming true, being included in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games team.

In Rio, he went on to make it to the semi-final round, but his 13.55 on the day was only good enough for seventh position in his heat, thus bringing his Olympic journey to an early end, but having picked up invaluable experience of racing at the highest level. “I went into the Olympic Games with a time that could have put me into the final, but in competition it just didn’t work,” he says. “I didn’t perform as well as I would have liked, but I have been a bit inconsistent, so the main goal is to be more consistent, and that experience will help me going forward. But most important is that I really enjoyed the experience of going up against the best in the world in Rio, and look forward to doing it again.”

Attitude of Success
Antonio (27) attributes his success to the work he has done with coach Marcel Otto at the Bellville Athletics Club in Cape Town. “My coach and I worked hard to get where I am now. We worked on speed for a few years, and then focused on technique, but there is still room for improvement,” says Antonio, adding that he is confident that the great athlete-coach relationship he and Marcel have is still going to bring them both great success. “Training is a lot of hard work, but I have the hunger to improve every year, even if it’s just 0.01 seconds. It’s still an improvement, and I trust my coach and his guidance to get me there.”

That confidence took a small knock in April this year at the SA Championships, when Tiaan Smit snatched the national title from Tony in Potchefstroom, but Tiaan was subsequently found to have used a banned substance and was banned for four years. Meanwhile, Antonio bounced back from that disappointment more determined than ever to do well, and that saw him finally surpass Lehann’s African and SA Record at the European Classic Permit Meeting in Prague, Czech Republic in May, replacing the old mark of 13.24 with his massively improved 13.11. “To be honest, it didn’t come as a surprise at all. I could feel it in the warm-up, and I had been running times like that in training, so I just had to perform on the day. My coach had told me I was going to be the one to break the record, and in training you could see I was a lot stronger than last year, so we knew it would come this year.”

After that it was time for the IAAF World Championships in August, and Antonio went to London boosted in confidence by his new record. He once again made it to the semi-final round, but fell short by 0.36 seconds, clocking 13.59 when he needed a 13.23 to progress to the final. Nevertheless, it was still one of his best major championship performances, and he says just makes him want to chase further success on the track. “My long-term goal is to work towards podium finishes and medals at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and Olympics. That would be amazing, and it won’t come easy, but with hard work, belief and trust, I think it can happen.”

More to Come…
Antonio’s sporting journey started in humble beginnings at Silversands Primary School and Malibu High School in Blue Downs, a suburb on the Cape Flats. His breakthrough came at the South African High School Championships in Rustenburg when he was in Matric – he finished fourth in that race, but says it boosted his confidence massively and laid the groundwork for greater things in his career. Another important factor in his success is the ongoing support of his parents Edward and Gail, who attend most of his races when finances allow, but otherwise sit nervously glued to their TV set when he is racing.

“I grew up in Brentwood Park in Blue Downs, and I’m still living there with my parents. Our community was quite small and almost everyone knows each other, so I had a good, fun and peaceful upbringing,” says Tony. He recently became engaged to long-time girlfriend Bronwin Houston, with whom he has a son, Logan, and he says he couldn’t do what he does without her love and support. “She supports my passion for the sport, and that means a lot, because I enjoy what I’m doing.”

All in all, Antonio has come a long way from that disappointed youngster in Germiston who had been eliminated in the preliminary heats at nationals, but instead of giving up, he opted to work harder, and that recently paid off with a new sponsorship from Nike. But there is no time for resting on laurels, he says. “I can always look back at my races, see what I did wrong, and work on how to perfect it, then get better. I just want to make it into the final of a major competition and whatever happens, happens, because it is so unpredictable in a final, and anything can happen in a technical race like the 110m hurdles.”

The Marathon Des Sables has been called “The Toughest Foot Race on Earth,” which is not surprising, given that it’s a 250km, six-stage race through the Sahara Desert in Morocco, with intense heat, grating sand, agonising blisters and incredible fatigue to contend with, and yet it was the number one bucket list item for Moerieda Mackay… even though she has never thought of herself a runner, let alone an ultra trail runner. – BY SEAN FALCONER

All it took was a photograph in a running magazine four years ago, of a man running in the Sahara Desert, to get Moerieda Mackay hooked on the idea of running the Marathon De Sables (MDS). She had never even been to a desert before, and says the hottest temperature she had experienced was 43 degrees in the Karoo, but somehow she became obsessed with running the event. “I was fascinated by his backpack and the intricacies of all his equipment, but it was the fact that he was carrying an anti-venom kit that really caught my attention! And yet the vision of me running the MDS stayed with me over the years. It was the craziest feeling, this burning desire to run 250km through the gruelling and inhospitable Sahara, carrying everything you would need to survive for seven days in the desert … but it’s like the desert was calling my name!”

Unsurprisingly, the journey just to get to the MDS in April this year proved a challenge for Moerieda, a mother of three from the Midrand area of Gauteng. She says that entering is hugely expensive and until 2016, South Africans had to go onto a three-year waiting list with the UK agent for the race to get an entry. “Luckily you can now enter directly, but once you’re entered, the challenging part lies in the training and preparation for the event, which includes sorting out your backpack, shoes, food and all your kit.”

“Once you arrive in the desert, funnily enough, the most challenging elements of the race are not the running or the heat, even though the highest recorded temperature was 54 degrees Celcius, but for me it was adjusting to life in the bivouac and sharing a tent with seven other mates! Luckily I was part of the Hope for Children group, running for the UK-based children’s charity, and we formed a great group. They say with a race like this your tent mates can either make it or break it for you. Mine were the best! The word self-sufficient took on a whole new meaning with the amount of sharing and caring shown by all of them.”

Another huge challenge for Moerieda was the logistics of the race. “If it was just running every day, the race would be fairly manageable, but with all the logistics it quickly becomes a lot trickier. It took me a good four days to get into my own rhythm, and I only really settled into the race on day three! But I guess the real big challenge of MDS is, of course, the sand! There is just no way of going faster than your fastest walk in the sand and blistering heat – unless of course you are a Moroccan or elite front runner – and as we hit sand dune after sand dune, I just kept saying to myself, Marathon of the Sands… this is your race!”

Latecomer to Running
By her own admission, Moerieda has no sporting background and zero athletic ability, so running is by far the most challenging thing she’s ever done, but she says it has put her on a path of physical, mental and spiritual transformation. “In 2010 I was trying to lose a few kilos and find that elusive work-life balance at the age of 40, because I’m a bit of a workaholic. And that first year I lost 22kg just training on the elliptical trainer and watching my diet. Meanwhile, my husband Adam had started running and he was having so much fun at the races on the weekends, so I started reading his running magazines and found interesting articles on how running has transformed people’s lives. Having lost so much weight, I was ready to push the boundaries, so I signed up for the 2011 Old Mutual Two Oceans Half Marathon in Cape Town, and that turned out to be a life-changing experience. I kept thinking, why did I not do this earlier. I was hooked!”

Today she says she has lost count of the races she has successfully tackled, including thee Comrades Marathons, which set her up well for the MDS challenge, but in October last year she fell and badly injured her ankle while training for the 100km Skyrun, and then she developed a mysterious blister problem. “I was even getting them on short runs and it frustrated the hell out of me. I now suspect it was the socks I was testing, but going into the race was a case of not ‘if I get blisters,’ but ‘when I get blisters,’ and I was ready for it! I even went to see a podiatrist and learnt to tape my feet, but as expected, I suffered blisters from day one at MDS!”

“Hell, it was painful, and every day there were more. Fortunately, the medical team at MDS are the best, and I think the dropout rate would be much higher at MDS if it wasn’t for Doc Trotters and his team. They took very good care of my feet. I remember on day two, after 39.1km in 50-plus degrees, my feet were so sore that my tears just started rolling in the medical tent. The doc looked at me with a smile and told me that I am a very strong woman. I cried even more after he said that, but felt strong when I walked out, ready to face day three! The blisters really affected me on the long day four stage, with its seven checkpoints. I had to stop at checkpoint four for over 30 minutes to attend to my feet, and again at checkpoint 5, as the blisters were killing me!”

Ultimate Runner’s High
While the blisters were one of the low points of Moerieda’s MDS experience, she says there were plenty of highlights as well. “My first surprise was race director Patrick Bauer and the whole MDS crew singing Happy Birthday to me at Quarzazate airport when I arrived. Another highlight was starting each stage to the tune of Highway to Hell, with helicopters flying low to film us. I always set off with my heart pounding, thinking this is it, I am actually running the MDS. Oh, and being surprised by the organisers with a can of ice cold Coke on day five! It’s the little things…”

“Surviving the decent of the last jebel on day two sticks in my memory. Legs deep in the sand making your way down the dune, it felt like skiing down a mountain slope in the Alps! All I could think of was, ‘What an adventure!’ And that after being in tears just two minutes before the decent, telling the organisers I didn’t think I could go down the jebel by myself! Another highlight was finishing day three feeling strong and very proud of myself, because day two was tough and had me at my lowest point, so finishing day three on a high was good for me from a mental and emotional perspective. I felt like I had ‘qualified’ for the 86.4km day four stage. In fact, for some weird reason, I felt like I had finally earned the right to be at the MDS!”

“I only have great memories of the MDS. I loved running in the desert. It is so beautiful out there, and I loved everything about the race, the organisation, the organisers, camp life, my tent mates, the routes… even the heat, and the six-hour bus ride from Quarzazate to the desert! The opportunity to be part of an event like the MDS, to run through the Sahara Desert, make new friends and to push your limits is priceless! The cut-offs at the MDS are very generous, so if you prepare well in the months before the event, you are almost guaranteed a successful MDS finish. And memories for a lifetime!”

Next on the Bucket List
After years of dreaming about MDS, Moerieda says she has struggled to get going again after coming back from the desert. “Some of my tent mates were doing 100km races within weeks of the MDS, but I feel I went into a kind of running depression, because I was thinking what next? Fortunately, I have found some answers to that question. I want to focus on building my new management consultancy business, but at the same time, running has brought me so much joy and opportunity, so I don’t want to let it go. And when it comes to running, the simple, easy races just don’t do it for me… so my next big thing will be the Tour de Geants, or Tour of Giants, in Italy in 2020.”

“It’s 330km with 24,000m of altitude gain, which is like climbing Everest three times, and you’re given 150 hours to finish, so I don’t know if I can do it, but I have to set myself a plan and then walk the motion, because I want to become a giant. That’s the goal for 2020, and along the way I want to run the 110km Lavaredo Ultra Trail in Italy in 2018, and I have put my name in the pot for the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in France in 2019. I believe that you must run with dreams in your heart and visions of doing something great, and that keeps me motivated. Thanks to MDS, I feel like I have achieved something great, and I hope it will inspire others.”