Category: Features

For months leading up to the event, I visualised crossing the finish line with my chest puffed out and the biggest smile on my face, but no matter what I achieve, my son isn’t with me to share the elation. Cross a million finish lines, Jed is never going to be there, his big blue eyes looking for his mommy in the crowd. I knew that going into Comrades, and I knew that when finishing… because my pain is always with me. – BY BONITA SUCKLING

The Comrades Marathon start line was surreal. I looked over and saw a man holding his hand on his heart, like a US soldier going to war, while singing the words of our National Anthem. I guess that was my ‘a-ha moment’ and I realised “damn, I’m gonna run 87km!” Chariots of Fire had me snotting a little, as I thought of the meaning of the Comrades, while hugging friends and strangers next to me. I had spent six months eating, sleeping, chanting and worshipping this event (of which six weeks was spent reading and not running due to an injury).

The race started and immediately, from the first kilometre, I felt my ankles hurt, my knees felt strange, and my PinkDrive sock had an annoying crease. By the fifth kilometre I knew that it was going to be a long day out, but I didn’t need to conserve energy or hold back – I have one pace, and I just ran at that pace. Instead, I want to remember every highlight of the event in every detail, but still, these are the ones that stood out for me…

Getting to the point where I knew I only had 56km left… I knew I had run 56km before and kept telling myself if I could get to 56km to go, then I could finish. I would just press repeat on my physical ability button. I forgot that at that 56km mark I would have already run 31km (or 33km, as my Garmin says we eventually ran 89km), but seeing that 56km sign was incredible. I also took out the names of the other 55 children I have printed on my hankie and wiped my tears away…

Meeting my close friends along the route was another highlight, but I needed a pee badly, so I had picked up the pace as I saw a massive rock with an invisible ‘pee behind me’ sign. I sprinted to the rock, but it was also at that point that I passed my friends. I can only imagine what they thought as I sprinted past them! All I was thinking was get to that rock; they were probably thinking psychosis!

Passing the school of disabled children, seeing their smiles and high-fiving their hands as I ran past… a highlight I can’t put into words. Anyone who knows how much I love children will know how much this moment meant to me. I pictured hitting Jed's hand as I ran past. If only…

Meeting up with my mate Gavin was another highlight. I am forever indebted to him for my Comrades time. I never doubted I would finish, but I would never have done a 10:45 without his enthusiastic “Dig deep, girl, dig deep… remember why you’re doing this.” Reaching for Gav’s hand at the 75km mark when I was in a dark patch, looking into his eyes and saying, “Thank you, Gav.” He knew I was talking about my son at this point and just said, “It’s okay, girl, it’s okay.”

Of course there were massive lows and dark moments, too. The reality that no matter what I achieve, it will never bring my son back. The reality that they may never find a cure for cancer, and that no matter how many times I run Comrades (or do the Ironman), research budget constraints will remain a concern. But the little voice in my head kept saying, “Go Mommy, make today the funnest day ever!” That little voice was what the day was about… Jed's voice, and the faces of the mommies who were waiting for me to cross that line in memory of their children. #CozJedMatters.

Bonita heads up Rainbows & Smiles, a public benefit organisation that provides emotional, social and financial support to families and caregivers when a child of that family is diagnosed with cancer. More info at www.rainbowsandsmiles.org.za, or contact her on 011 609 4392 or [email protected].

In the typical Western diet, meats such as beef, lamb, pork, veal, poultry and fish are the predominant sources of protein, B vitamins, iron and zinc, but considering that iron and zinc are the most cited nutrients that may be deficient in the diet of athletes, we look at which types of meat are most beneficial for athletes. – By Christine Peters (Registered Dietician)

Most runners know that red meat is packed with protein, which is critical for muscle growth and recovery. It's also packed with iron, zinc and B vitamins, which boost the immune system and keep red blood cells healthy. However, just as no single vegetable or fruit can provide all of the critical nutrients common to its food group, so no single type of meat can provide all of the nutrients necessary for a healthy and well-balanced diet. It is the variety of types and cuts of meat that provide the total array of nutrients necessary for an adequate diet, so let’s take a closer look at a few meats.

BEEF
An excellent source of zinc, a mineral essential for a strong immune system. You'll also get two milligrams of iron, a plus, because running, especially high mileage, breaks down red blood cells, so athletes need about 30 percent more iron than non-athletes. Beef is also a good source of niacin, riboflavin, thiamin and vitamin B6, which help convert carbohydrates into the fuel needed to make it through a training run, and all are particularly plentiful in beef. If you can, opt for grass-fed beef, which supplies more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidant vitamin E than grain-fed.
• Shopping Tip: Lean cuts include eye of round, sirloin, filet mignon, tenderloin, flank, or extra lean minced beef. The perfect portion is the size of your palm – minus your fingers.

DARK MEAT CHICKEN
All too often runners believe that the juicy meat found in chicken thighs, wings and legs is off-limits. That's a myth. After all, a breast has around 161 calories, while an equivalent portion of dark meat runs only 200 calories. Yes, dark meat has more fat (11 grams versus four grams in white), but fewer than four grams are saturated fat. Compared to bland breasts, flavour-packed dark meat is also higher in zinc and iron. Bottom line: If you love the taste, dark meat is a healthy way to add variety to your diet.
• Shopping Tip: Stay clear of basted rotisserie or crumbed chicken. Rather roast and make your versions.

LAMB
A rare find on the dinner plate these days, lamb is a surprisingly good source of heart-healthy omega-3s. Because the amount of omega-3s depends on the lamb's diet, look for either “pasture-fed” or “organic” on the label. One study published in 2011 in the British Journal of Nutrition found that people who ate grass-fed red meat, including lamb, three times per week for four weeks, increased the levels of healthy omega-3s in their blood, while decreasing inflammatory omega-6 levels. Like beef, lamb is also a good source of zinc and iron.
• Shopping Tip: Choose leaner cuts like loin and leg, and trim visible fat. Because lamb can dry out without this extra fat, try roasting, broiling or braising the meat for a stew.

PORK
It's the best substitute for lovers of chicken. Compared with chicken breasts, a serving of pork tenderloin packs 13 percent fewer calories and the same amount of fat (four grams) and saturated fat (one gram). It's an excellent source of vitamin B6, which helps your body metabolise protein and carbs, and produce energy during exercise. Pork is also an excellent source of thiamin (vitamin B1) and iron, a good source of niacin (vitamin B3) and only an average source of riboflavin and zinc.
• Shopping Tip: Grill up centre-cut pork chops or roast pork tenderloin. Lower-fat meats, especially pork, need to be seasoned well to maximise flavour. Rub on a mix of spices (like cumin, paprika and chili powder) and fresh or dried herbs, plus salt and pepper.

Generally speaking, red meats like beef and the dark meat of poultry are better sources of iron and zinc than are white meats like fish and light meat of poultry. However, there are some exceptions, one example being pork, an excellent source of iron. Because vitamin B12 is a by-product of animal metabolism, virtually all types of meats are good or excellent sources of vitamin B12.

It seems Panda Qamata of Cape Town has the ‘Midas Touch’ when it comes to running-related competitions, which will see him packing for Paris next year. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Having never won anything before, Panda Qamata (39) was understandably elated when he won a pair of New Balance shoes for submitting the winning Athletes in Action photo for the November 2014 edition of Modern Athlete. Those shoes were immediately put to good use, as Panda was already in training for the 2015 Old Mutual Two Oceans and Comrades ultra-marathons. “I was so excited when I received the e-mail from Modern Athlete, because I had never won anything before, and I wanted to change my running shoes anyway, so it came at just the right time.”

Then a few months ago he heard that he was one of 10 finalists in the competition to win a trip for two to the 2016 Paris Marathon, thanks to having entered the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, but at first Panda thought it just sounded too good to be true. “When I entered the marathon, I entered for myself and four other club members who do not have a credit card, so when the organisers contacted me to say I was a finalist, I still asked if they were sure it was actually me… Then on the Thursday night before the race I received a call from organiser Janet Wellham, asking me to come to the pre-race media conference on the Friday. Disbelief, shock… I didn’t sleep much that night, because I was so excited! Also, I was planning to chase a sub-four in the race that Sunday, because I had been struggling to get there, with a 4:12 at Soweto and 4:15 in the Peninsula, but the sheer joy of winning that prize carried me to a new PB of 3:56!”

Excitement Building
“My wife Abongile and I are so very excited about this trip, because Paris is on a Sunday, which means we can run it. We are Seventh Day Adventists, so we don’t run on Saturdays, our Sabbath… I was actually going to decline the prize if the race was on a Saturday. Even better, the race will be at the same time as our tenth wedding anniversary in April. We were planning an overseas running holiday later in 2016, so winning this trip to France will save us a lot of money while still giving us an overseas anniversary holiday.”

When asked about race-day plans for Paris, Panda says it will definitely be more sight-seeing than racing. “The Two Oceans is just a week before Paris, so I just want to run a sub-five-hour with my wife in Paris. She is normally 30 to 40 minutes behind me in marathons, so we’ll just take it easy and treat it like a honeymoon race, and then we’re planning to extend the trip a bit and also go run a marathon in Rome a week after Paris.”

Getting Into Running
Born in Port St Johns, Panda studied mechanical engineering in Cape Town and then worked in various locations around South Africa, including Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth. In 2006 he married Abongile, having met her through the SDA Church in Umtata, and in 2012 they moved back to Cape Town, now with two young kids, and he took up the position as Facilities Manager at Artscape. He started his athletic career with various walking events in 2004 and 2005, then upgraded to running. By 2007 he was regularly running half marathons, and then in 2010 he stepped up to 30km, then the marathon in 2011, with the aim to do the Two Oceans and Comrades in 2014. He has now done two of each. Meanwhile, Abongile ran her first marathon last year in Cape Town, then completed the Two Oceans and Comrades this year.

Both are avid runners, but due to their religion it has not always been easy to find races to run. “We run the Two Oceans on the Friday, and Comrades is fine as it is on a Sunday. It was easier when we lived in Gauteng, where most of the races in Johannesburg are on Sundays, and it is okay in the Cape, but it was terrible living in PE from 2008 to 2011, as there were no races on Sundays, except for the Spar Ladies race. We had to fly to Cape Town all the time just to run some races. That is why we are so glad Paris in on a Sunday!”

We often hear runners’ stories of ultra-distance races, but we seldom hear about these runs from the perspective of an athlete’s support crew, or seconds, and the critical role they play in supporting the runners. I hope that writing about my experience as a second in the recent Washie 100 Miler not only gives the event the attention it deserves, but also gives runners useful insight into the support they will need out on the road, and how they should assemble their support team. – BY THOLAKELE CHARMAIN SHANDU

Far less people have heard of the Washie100 Miler in South Africa than the Comrades Marathon, so for those who don’t know it, the Washie is a 160km road race from Port Edward to East London, with a 26-hour cut-off. The race starts at 5pm on a Friday and is run as close to the full moon as possible, but runners must still get through a long night of running, much of it along an undulating, busy highway.

It is a very long, gruelling run, and one of the requirements of the race is that runners must have a support team of seconds to look after them, in a car in good running condition and with enough petrol to drive up and down the route. And so this July, I and two running mates were invited to be seconds when our friend Gerald Pavel signed up to run the Washie for the first time, and that 160km trek was the longest thing any of us have ever been exposed to.

Esteemed Company
Gerald has four Comrades bronze medals, and his team of seconds included a Comrades gold medallist in Prodigal Kumalo, who has also won several races on the track and in cross-country, on the trails and over the marathon distance. Then there was Zisandele Mkhize, a Comrades Bill Rowan medallist who also boasts podium finishes in various trail races. And then there was me… I am merely a Comrades finisher. Against these talented Comrades runners, I couldn’t help but feel that I was second-best with my three Comrades Vic Clapham medals, which were all achieved in the last 30 minutes before the 12-hour cut-off. Also, the fact that my Comrades record includes two DNF’s did not help my confidence levels. Nevertheless, there I was.

Now let’s come back to the role of a second: You are supposed to supply the runner with food and ensure that they are adequately hydrated, and ensure that the sustenance is provided at the right intervals. The second is also a cheerleader, storyteller, jokes master, singer, poet, and reader and confirmer of the very big glow-in-the dark kilometre markers to the incredulous runner. The second must also have thick skin and be able to withstand verbal and emotional abuse from the runner, who may think the sun revolves around them…

Seconds also need to be able and willing to run, as one of their jobs is to keep the runner company by running at certain intervals alongside their runner, so they must be fit and have a fairly good understanding of what running entails. Our plan was that I would do most of the driving and just do a little running with Gerald, to relieve the other two main seconds.

Friend in Need
The race started and Prodigal and Zisandele ran a couple of 10km stretches here and there with Gerald, while I did just one 10km set and then stuck to driving. However, their 30km limit each was eventually reached, as they had to preserve their elite athlete bodies and protect themselves against overuse injuries, having just come back from Comrades barely a month before. And so, with 50km to go, when Gerald wasn’t looking too good, instead of just doing a few kilometres at a time, I ended up running and walking alongside him the rest of the way to the finish. He wasn’t taking kindly to stories, joke-telling or pep talks anymore, so I ran quietly beside him, just being there while also supplying him with food and drinks.

At about 22 kays to go, he wanted to “lie down for ten minutes.” I knew that if he did that, he might not be able to get up again and continue, so I talked him into continuing. Then just 4km from the finish, he started shivering from the cold, so I took off my very thin T-shirt – the only covering I had against the cold – and put it on him, covering his arms, straight-jacket style. I was left wearing only my sports bra. We must have made a very weird pair: A shuffling and shivering white man with too much clothing on, literally being pushed by a black woman with barely any clothes on!

Finally we had 2km to go with 24 minutes left on the clock until the final cut-off, but by then we were doing an average of 15 minutes a kilometre, and I realised that Gerald needed to run the last stretch if he was to finish. I firmly told him that he needed to run now, but he told me he couldn’t. I told him he can, and he will, and I started to push him in the back to make him go faster. He responded by taking off my T-shirt straight-jacket and not only did he start running, but Gerald ran harder in that last kilometre than he had in the previous 60 kilometres. We crossed the finish line with just under 10 minutes to spare.

Slow and Steady Wins
The short lesson from this long story is that the running experience of all his seconds helped Gerald with his Washie 100 Miler experience, but I believe that having a ‘finisher’ in his team got him over the finish line. As a finisher, I know that when the clock and the odds are against you, and when the thoughts hit home of all the hard work and the sacrifices you and your loved ones have made to get you to the point when you are race ready, when the faces of strangers swim before your eyes and they shout that you can make it, that you must just keep going. You need to dig deep and find that extra mental reserve that will get you to the finish line when your body can’t do it alone.

Gerald had never been under that pressure before in his four bronze medal Comrades runs, and neither had Prodigal or Zisandele with their stellar performances. I may not have been the fastest runner in the team, but my Comrades Vic Clapham medallist experience is what saw Gerald crossing that finish line. And as I sat down after eight solid hours on the road, I smiled with my newfound knowledge that sometimes second-best is actually best.

In light of the fact that I ran my 11th PUFfeR (Peninsula Ultra Fun Run 80km) from Cape Point to the Waterfront in August, finishing in 12:26:35, I thought I’d share my story about the horrific accident I had on the day of the race eight years ago in 2007, when I tried to take a short-cut down the mountain. – BY STUART PURCELL

It was a beautiful day – late winter in Cape Town with not a cloud in sight, the sun streaming down warmly, and a stunning view from Table Mountain of the city bowl and harbour at my feet. Life couldn’t get better. I was lying in fourth position in my favourite trail race, and I could just cruise in to the finish in Cape Town’s famous Waterfront in my own time. But then things went horribly wrong…

BITTEN BY THE BUG
I’d first been coerced into running by Jon Cane, a natural runner who never struggled to run up even the toughest hills. As a result of his persistent nagging, I ended up doing a few Peninsula Marathons and Two Oceans Marathons, and then one day in 1996, a mad trail runner by the name of Phil Struckman ‘gave’ me an entry to that year’s PUFfeR. He explained that he had participated in the inaugural running of the 80km challenge the previous year, along with 18 other nutters, that it had been postponed by a week because there was too much snow on Table Mountain and the weather conditions were too severe, that a few of them had gone up anyway to check it out, and that the race had taken place the following week. He’d loved it, and his enthusiasm (coupled with a delectable red) prompted my acceptance of his invitation.

I took part, in various stages of fitness, for the following three years, taking enormous strain with the distance, but the awesome terrain blew me away and I was addicted, convincing a few other people to take part. I took a few years’ break from running for various personal reasons, including some niggling injuries, but when I eventually got back into the running groove, my times over the longer distance seemed to have improved with age. Experience counts, obviously, and I was enjoying the running more, as my PUFfer position and time improved with each run. I finished in seventh position on two occasions, with my best result being sixth in 2006, and from taking over 12 hours to complete the race in 1996 to 1998, I was now able to finish in less than nine hours.

IN TOP RACING SHAPE
So along came my eighth PUFfeR in 2007, with some solid off-road training under the belt. I loved the Fisherman’s Trail Challenge and nearly died on the Hout Bay Trail Challenge, but was feeling really great about my progress and fitness. The Saturday morning of the race dawned cool but not freezing, breezy but not windy, and very dark. But it was a stunning day and all went as planned. The toughest part for me is always the trek up from Constantia Neck to Maclear’s Beacon, after 56 tough kilometres – by then it is hot, and the legs and mind are not working.

From Maclear’s to the top of Platteklip Gorge is two straight running kilometres, with the drop down to the path having a fearsome reputation, but it had never bothered me in the past. I was more worried about my fourth position, but knew that very few people could make up any ground against me going down Platteklip. On the path towards the Lower Cable Station, I felt strong enough to keep running, even though I knew that my position was now safe, and I knew the rest of the route like the back of my hand.

That being a very wet year, and the day being particularly warm, I decided when I came to a rocky overhang to reach out and grab some falling water in my cap to splash over my head. As I did so, I slipped and fell down the gorge, a distance of about 20 metres. I bounced once or twice, but it was essentially a sheer drop, and I was badly injured, unconscious and lying in a stream. I had a completely shattered right elbow, and my head had taken a few big knocks to the extent that my scalp split open like a melon. Not a pretty sight!

GUARDIAN ANGEL
However, luck was with me: A tourist spotted my antics and informed the next runner, Hayden Hobbs, of my predicament. Hayden, coincidentally, is a doctor, and he happened to have his cell phone on him. He abandoned his race to come to my aid, clambering down to my position, contacting the emergency medical personnel and stabilising me. From there, things were a bit of a blur for me – they usually are, according to my wife – and all I remember is being freezing cold, joking with Hayden, refusing to give him my wife’s phone number (because I didn’t want her to worry), dangling below the helicopter all the way to Groote Schuur Hospital, the discomfort of the neck brace, some indelicate interns pulling dozens of stitches through my scalp, and eventually the presence of my wife. Funny, there was no pain at all (except for the stitches). Morphine works!

My elbow was operated on the next day in Vincent Palotti Hospital, where the completely snapped bone was reattached using two pins. I was a bit of a mess, but luckier than the American tourist who had fallen from the same place, just two hours before me. She’d broken her back. I was home after three days, and only off work for a total of three weeks, but it wasn’t all plain sailing: My arm was basically useless, so my wife had to help me with nearly everything I did. Try shaving with your left hand if you are right handed! I went through weeks of physiotherapy, suffered from flashbacks, could only sleep with the help of sleeping tablets, anaemia kept me sluggish and tired, and my back and arm were constantly painful. But if you survive a six storey fall, who cares? I was lucky.

Today there are still some long-term effects. My arm will never be fully functional, but some would argue that with my scrawny biceps, it never was anyway. Meanwhile, my head is a funny shape – a great improvement, I have heard – and my back likes to remind me that it also took a bit of a hit, but aside from that, I am still running the PUFfeR. So my message to other runners is to get fit and get out on the trails, but try to avoid taking any vertical short-cuts!

With a World Championship title to his name, Michael Lord has the triathlon world at his feet, but this well-grounded young man still has his sights firmly set on his studies and making sure he uses his time effectively in between all his sporting activities. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Maties first-year geology student Michael Lord went to Sardinia, Italy for the ITU Cross Triathlon World Champs at the end of September with a point to prove. Having finished second in the junior elite category at the previous World Champs in Zittau, Germany in 2014, the 19-year-old wanted to win the title in his last year as a junior, but he says he went into the event feeling relaxed. “I wasn’t nervous on race day, because you can only do as well as you can. Also, I had spent a week in Sardinia acclimatising and learning the course, so I knew all the lines and knew I could make up time on the bike, even against faster riders.”

Racing in good weather conditions, Michael came out of the 750m swim in fourth position, just a few seconds behind the leaders, and was first out of transition. On the 19km bike leg he soon began to open a gap on the chasing athletes, especially when the leading juniors caught up to the backmarkers in the elite women’s race – then Michael says his strategy was to put as many of the women as he could between him and the chasers. In the 6km run leg, he had a lead of a minute, which he maintained right to the end, although he gave up 40 seconds when he missed the entry into the finish straight and had to walk back to find it. Then, having claimed a World Champs title and celebrated standing on top of the podium, he hit the books again – because he had a big chemistry test the Monday evening after he got back to Stellenbosch!

“Man, that test was rough – I wrote for over two hours, and I think I did enough to pass. Studying while competing overseas is not easy, but I still managed to get some done while I was in Italy. I find the pure maths and physics the most challenging of my B.Sc Earth Sciences subjects, but I passed everything in the first semester, so I just want to pass everything in the second semester, because next year I won’t have either subject any more.”

The young man’s attraction to geology stems from his father, who also worked as a geologist. “He told me stories of travelling a lot thanks to work, which appeals to me, like taking various survey trips into African countries for weeks at a time, plus work opportunities in the field are generally good. However, with the Chinese economy currently down, geologists are suddenly struggling for work for the first time, since China buys much of South Africa’s mineral resources. Hopefully that will have changed by the time I start working, and that may also affect my decision which area to specialise in.”

Promising Young Years
Michael grew up in a sporty family based in Somerset West that used to regularly go for hikes and mountain bike rides together. He began doing triathlons and duathlons at the age of eight, and won his first SA Junior title at the age of nine. “I remember my first triathlon at the Coetzenberg Dam here in Stellenbosch, and I have been doing the sport ever since,” says Michael. “Back when I started the Western Province had a very strong group of juniors that were well looked after by Tony Bradford, and we used to dominate the podiums at SA Champs. I still love the sport and the lifestyle.”

In primary school Michael did cross-country and swimming, and then in high school at Paul Roos Gymnasium he played hockey and waterpolo, rode for the school’s talented mountain biking squad and sometimes did athletics – and sang in the choir – but triathlon remained his focus. Meanwhile, his younger sister Megan also got into triathlon, but is now focused on hockey, having made the Boland Schools’ team, and dad Kim’s provincial squash team won the 2015 SA Squash Champs title in the 40-44 age category, despite only having one player in that age bracket and all the others being much older – so Michael comes from talented sporting genes.

Preference for Trails
Having enjoyed much success as a junior in road tri’s, Michael says he much prefers the off-road events these days. “I find the road events a bit boring, especially the biking legs. Mountain biking is always more interesting, especially for that ‘X factor’ up in the mountains, and there are also far less spectators, so you have to motivate yourself. Besides the challenge, scenery and enjoyment, there is more of a mental aspect to it as well.”

Unsurprisingly, Michael says his favourite event on the calendar is the two-day Fedhealth XTERRA Grabouw, the off-road tri in February that not only serves as the SA XTERRA Champs, but also as the African qualifier for the Cross Tri World Champs. This year Michael won the XTERRA Lite overall for the third time on the Saturday, also taking the 15-19 age category as he crossed the line just over two minutes clear of the next athlete. Then the following day he also raced the XTERRA Full, this time going in the 20-24 category because there is no junior category for the longer event, and not only came home 14th overall in the men’s race, but also first in the 20-24 age category, although he almost didn’t finish the race…

“It was not an important race for me, as my focus had been on the Lite the previous day, and I actually only did the Full so that I could check out the mountain bike leg. So when I got a flat tyre near the end and had to run the last 2km pushing my bike, I was ready to call it a day, but when I got to transition they told me I was still right up with the top 10, so I decided to run,” says Michael. “Out of all the triathlons that I’ve taken part in over the past 11 years, the XTERRA Grabouw is the best route and the best organised triathlon by far, and we could easily hold the World Champs there. The run route is amazing – I was just smiling the whole race!”

Grounded Attitude
What is surprising is that Michael does not specifically want to pursue a professional career in triathlon, in spite of his long track record of success in the sport and his recent World Championship title. “I would like to travel and race on the international circuit for one year after varsity, to see how well I can do, but I’m not planning to go pro. To do that you have to find sponsors to pay for you. I’m very fortunate right now to be sponsored or supported by Jeep Team, Silverback Cycles, Torq Nutrition, XTERRA Wetsuits and Mason’s Bike Inn, and they’ve all been very good to me, but finding sponsors for a pro career is very hard.”

“Still, if somebody does offer to pay me to race, why not, I would consider it, knowing I have a decent degree to come back to afterwards – but I would have to find something to do at the same time, because you have so much free time. I can’t just lie around in between training sessions and races, I would need to run a business or do something to pay my way. That’s why it is working for me now while I study, because I train early in the morning, then go to class or study… although sometimes I am too tired to study. But I can’t just lie around.”

Racing Plans
With a number of years of university still ahead of him, Michael says he will continue racing triathlons and other multi-sport events, but from next year he will no longer be able to compete as a junior. “This was my last year in the under-19 category and next year I will be in the under-23s, but I am keen to see how I go in Grabouw, not just in my age category, but also against the elites. The nice thing for me is that while they’re always under pressure to perform, I won’t be, so I can just enjoy my race – and I will continue to give thanks to Our Lord for giving me this ability. One of the main benefits of this kind of exposure is being able to witness a bit.”

After suffering the sudden loss of my husband, it was my running family that got me back on my feet. – BY IRENE VAN ROOYEN

I started doing long distance running about 22 years ago and had the support of my wonderful husband Andre all those years. He never complained about the early mornings to take me to races or drop me off at gym, not even talking about the money spent going all over to do the different races. Unfortunately everything changed two years ago, coming back from doing the 2013 Wally Hayward Marathon, when he suffered a major heart attack and died in my arms.

Months passed by and I couldn't get myself back on the road, but thanks to two of my fellow runners, I was eventually convinced to do the Old Eds 21km later that same year. Entering the finish, I couldn't lift my head, knowing that there was no-one waiting for me at the line, but then all the people that knew started clapping and calling my name, running with me to the finish and crying with me. Thanks to my running family, I could face the rest of the day.

Not Ready Yet…
But it was all too emotional for me and I didn't go back out on the road until I went on holiday in George in December and ran a 10km race in Mossel Bay. It was a race on the beach, 5km out and back, and when I reached the 7km mark, I decided to take off my running shoes and take a dive in the sea. Something wonderful happened at that exact moment – I think God chose that time for me to see the beauty of life, because I was surrounded by colourful fish, and I could feel that some healing took place.

Coming back from George on the 6th of January, I opened my laptop and pre-entered most of the races I had run before, and I re-entered the Comrades Marathon, having skipped the 2013 run. I also decided to do all my races in memory of Andre, including the Wally Hayward Marathon, and I eventually ran seven half marathons, two 32km, four marathons and three ultras before the Comrades.

I didn't finish the Comrades in 2012 when he went with me, but I did last year, in 11:30:42, and had my best Comrades ever… not in terms of time, but the way I felt. And it is thanks to the support that my running family gave me, and still does, that I'm back full-time on the road and enjoying every minute spent running, knowing he is next to me.

The comments about our #RunClean campaign to clean up the litter problem in our races keep coming in, so we know we have struck the right note with the running community. – COMPILED BY SEAN FALCONER
 

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More Feedback from Readers

David Haefele: Did you see the marker board that says “No rubbish after this point?” If you didn’t, then open your eyes.
Donovan Gould: I am embarrassed as a runner by litterbugs… my planet is not your dustbin!
Alison Smith: I called a runner out on throwing a sachet into the bushes during a race. He turned around and gave me a thousand words, telling me that the person who picked up the kilometre board would get it… not that it was close to the board. He clearly has no conscience, which makes the problem a lot bigger than we may think. So sad.
Ally Lewis: It is about changing runners' mindsets. We need to embark on an aggressive campaign to stop this. I think people should be fined – if they can't take responsibility for their litter, they must pay the price. I run with mine tucked into my running vest until I pass a bin. If we can carry GU and phones and other paraphernalia, what's a sachet of plastic? Perhaps include a block on entry forms that runners must tick, committing themselves to running clean?
Martin Bongers: If all races commit to having at least one bin per kilometre marker, then a runner will only have to carry an empty sachet for a maximum of one kilometre. Not all runners have shorts with pockets, so let's make it easier for all our runners to comply by asking all races to adhere to a frequent bin policy.
Tracey Ann Ranson Jones: Unfortunately most sachets don't make the bins even when they are plentiful…
Teresa Morris: Agreed, put more litter boxes between water points, not just at the water tables, because not everybody drinks the water straight away.
Leon Visser: I ran the tough Satori Camel Run 16km for the first time this year and it was a prerequisite to bring your own water. I thought, how are those without hydration packs going to survive. Well, we all did – and no littered sachets, no mess, no clean-up! At 8km there was a refill water tank, and I was thinking, why not start doing this on all 5km fun runs and 10km runs? Do we really need that much liquid on a 10km run, because I'm sure a water bottle will be enough to carry you through.

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Letter to the Editor: We Need a RunClean Badge
It is a great article in the July issue of your magazine about us runners littering and expecting others to clean up. Being on my club committee, I would like to suggest that we as Vaal Athletic Club become active in this campaign, #RunClean. I cannot agree more that we need to address this issue very seriously, or we might lose the privilege to even run Chapman’s Peak. Once you have manned a water table and done the clean-up job, then you realise the effort it takes.

Do you perhaps envisage this as a slogan badge or something that can be sown on the running vest for others to see? I was thinking it must be visible advertising, and by having it on the vest or shorts, it will be seen by other runners. I just hope that they will then comply! – Roelof van Wyk, Vaal Athletic Club

Great idea, Roelof, and something we are already talking about here at Modern Athlete, in order to take this campaign to the next level. – Ed.

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We would love to hear from you about your efforts to #RunClean, so send your letters, photographs or ideas to [email protected].

Think before you throw – #RunClean

If Cornel Fredericks should line up in his starting blocks for the 400-hurdles final at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, it would be due to three words, namely: patience, persistence and resilience.

The 2014 Commonwealth Champion departed for England on Sunday (18 October) to start training in all earnest for next year’s Games. According to Fredericks not a day goes by without him thinking about these words, wondering how he can put them into practice. He realizes that if he manages to do so he will have a good chance of qualifying for the Olympic final. And, as he says, in the final anything can happen.

2015 was without doubt an extremely frustrating year for the Tuks/HPC athlete. It all began when problems with his Achilles heel prevented him from training properly. Another frustration was that there was uncertainty about who would coach him.

To cut to the chase, Fredericks had only a couple of opportunities to race during the entire season. His best performance was in Madrid in July where he finished fourth in 49.50s. This was good enough for him to qualify for the World Championships in Beijing but he did not compete in spite of being selected.

This was in sharp contrast with 2014 when Fredericks could seemingly do nothing wrong. In 13 races he only failed once to finish in the top three (finishing fourth) and was victorious on seven occasions. He won gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, the African Athletics Championships and the Continental Cup meeting. To top it all he finished third in the 400-hurdles Diamond League standings.

Fredericks admits that he went slightly off the rails because of his severe frustration.

“There were times when I was still out and about in the early mornings. I wandered about aimlessly, not really caring about anything. I began to eat all sorts of junk food because I could not see any reason why I should stick to a healthy diet if I am not able to race. I tended to do some other irrational things as well. In short I was really down and out. Luckily I have wonderful friends and family who really cared, especially my mom, Maureen. They made me realize that I have unfinished business on the track and that it would be foolhardy of me just to let go of my dreams and goals.

“I also had time to think during my five week holiday in Caledon and I came to the conclusion that I still have the hunger to become one of the best 400-hurdlers in the world.”

There was much speculation about why Fredericks did not compete at the World Championships in Beijing. Some of the rumours were quite upsetting to him, especially when it was hinted that he simply stayed away.

“There is nothing more special to me than representing South Africa at a major championship. When I do, it is important to me to do my utmost to win a medal for South Africa. That is why it hurt when it was said that I deliberately chose not to run in Beijing. Nothing could be further from the truth. As luck would have it I picked up a small hamstring tear. It was nothing serious but given my experience with previous injuries I decided the risk of racing was just too great. I was certainly not able to run flat-out and I really did not want to end up having to do another three months of rehabilitation. That is why I withdrew from the World Championships.”

The Tuks/HPC athlete becomes quite excited when he talks about going back to England to train under the guidance of Malcolm Arnold. Arnold is the national event coach for hurdles and a senior performance coach for UK Athletics. He has attended every Olympic Games since Mexico City in 1968 (12 in all) as a coach of National Teams. He has also been responsible for coaching athletes to win more than 70 major medals over 46 years.

“Malcolm is a strict coach who does not hesitate to call a spade a spade if he thinks it will help his athletes to excel.”

When asked if he would be prepared to represent South Africa in the 4×400-hurdles relay at the Games, Fredericks’s face lit up before he answered: “Yes, definitely.”

“I think it would be exciting to run the 4×400 relay. You only need three good 400m athletes because Wayde van Niekerk (400m world champion) will do the rest. I think South Africa will be able to win a medal in the relay, but I need to know by March whether or not I would be expected to take part. It is one thing to run a 400-hurdles race, but something quite different to run a flat 400 metres.”

He wishes to remain anonymous, so this is a slightly different article to the norm here in Modern Athlete, but the story behind Twitter’s @theAngryKenyan is just too good not to share. – EDITED BY SEAN FALCONER

The first time I heard about the Angry Kenyan a few years ago, I was not on Twitter yet and had no idea who or what the hype was all about. I actually thought there was some guy originally from Kenya who was angry about life – or perhaps just about his running prospects – and having a rant on Twitter. What I subsequently found out was that the Angry Kenyan is actually an incredibly inspirational and humorous guy, not angry at all, and when I finally got to meet him a few years later during the Comrades Marathon, I saw exactly how positive and upbeat he really is. However, I didn’t know what was behind his Twitter handle until he recently sent me an explanation, which I have decided to share with you here in the mag, so you too can share in his incredible passion. – Ed.

The Kenyan Movement
By @theAngryKenyan

I haven’t been a runner for very long. In fact I only did my first ‘big run,’ the Dis-Chem 21km, in January 2012. I always said I wasn’t a runner, but after giving up on cycling as it just wasn’t safe anymore, I found I actually quite enjoyed running, and it was way easier to run – you just needed some good running shoes and a piece of road and you were away.

Saw the Sign
It was on the route of that Dis-Chem run, somewhere around the 15km mark, that I saw a little guy at the side of the road holding up a sign that said, “Run like an angry Kenyan.” It made me smile the whole way to the finish! As everyone knows, Kenyans can really run, so can you imagine an angry one? Now, I had been thinking about joining the social media circles, but not being a big FaceBook fan, I decided it was going to have to be Twitter, and when it came to a name for my profile, this name, and the emotions it brought to mind, was an obvious choice.

I didn’t want to be one of those people who tweeted about “I’m having coffee with John today…” or “What do you think of my outfit…” No, I wanted to use this as a platform to encourage and motivate other runners, especially novices like me. I created a little hype, as no-one knew who this Angry Kenyan was, which is what I wanted. I wanted to stay anonymous, be that person who inspired from afar. I wanted the Kenyan Movement to be about the people in it, not me.

Baby Steps
It started off slowly as I tweeted daily motivational pictures and sayings, and even went through a stage where I posted the ‘Exercise of the Day’ – I’m currently a personal trainer, so sharing this knowledge, as well as my running stuff, came easily to me. I called it the Kenyan Movement, mainly because of my profile name, but also because I was hoping it would take off and become something people wanted to be a part of. I also created the hashtag #runwithpassion and added it to my Tweets wherever I could, because I wanted people to share experiences, knowledge and encouragement for other runners, and to simply create a group of people who were passionate about running. I never expected it to become what it has, with a little over 1000 followers worldwide in just over three years, from novice runners to pro athletes. Now I continue to send out motivations and touch base with as many runners as I can, creating a bond and sharing with all who have joined.

I took on the Old Mutual Two Oceans marathon and the Comrades Marathon in 2013, as a novice, having only been running for a year and a half, and tweeted my entire journey. I ran for charity on both runs and loved being part of giving back to someone or something else, and still managing to be anonymous… to a point. Last year I was set to go back down to Cape Town to do the Two Oceans again and there was no getting away from meeting runners who had been following me for over a year. I met with nine complete strangers, all runners from Cape Town, who had come together to meet me. I was so humbled and absolutely blown away that I had made such an impact on complete strangers. It meant that everything I had tried to do had worked. I was getting people to share running and their passion for it!

I also met Stephanie Schultzen from Two Oceans and Bronwyn Freeman from Comrades and it became clear that the Kenyan Movement was making a difference in peoples’ lives, and not just for running, but also helping people to be more positive about who they are, about their place in this world. I get emotional just thinking about it, because I am just me – a nobody, really – and yet I have made this impact on people from Dubai to Kent to Kimberely, and even some followers in Kenya!

At Comrades last year – I went back for the Back to Back medal – I was just struggling through and I heard, “Come on Angry Kenyan!” from a complete stranger who had seen my Tweets, knew I was running in pink and had spotted me. It meant so much to me! I’ve run with a few people in the Movement and they have been the best runs ever. I can only dream of running on each continent where there are Kenyan Movement runners, and the London and New York marathons are top of my bucket list, plus a marathon in Kenya. How amazing would that be!

Broadening the Message
In the last few months, as I have trained and been inspired by others, and in order to encourage and motivate other athletes, including swimmers and cyclists, because I recently completed my first IRONMAN 70.3 event down in Durban, I changed the hashtag and it’s meaning from #runwithpassion to #BEwithpassion. I want to share my passion for training and life with everyone, and get them to live life to the full, to BE, and to do it with passion!

Doing my small part in the running community has made me realise that one person can make a difference, and by doing so, that one person can also be changed and motivated for the better! That is the story of the Kenyan Movement, and the Angry Kenyan.

You can join the Kenyan Movement by following @theAngryKenyan on Twitter.