ROAD RUNNING
She’s become the face of South African running on our television screens thanks to her work as anchor presenter of the SABC
broadcasts of events such as the Comrades, Two Oceans, Cape Town and Soweto Marathons, but Vaylen Kirtley is a runner
in her own right. We caught up with her for a Q&A the day before the 2019 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, just after she had
finished the Sanlam Peace Trail Run 12km as a warm-up for her broadcast duties the following day. – BY SEAN FALCONER
MA: Hi Vaylen. So first things first, how did your
Running the Two Oceans Trail Run in 2019
trail run go this morning?
VK: This was the second year that I’ve done
this 12km, and last year was really warm from the
beginning, whereas today we had amazing weather at
the start, and the sun only really came out when we
finished the race. Still, I must say, I ended up getting
a much slower time, but it’s okay, because at the
beginning of the year, I had an accident on my scooter
and smashed my elbow badly. That’s why you can
see this lovely big scar. And it’s really just great to
come back from that and be running again, because
I’d never broken anything else before. So I had a great
run, and what I was really impressed about was the
amount of people that were there. I think last year,
I easily walked to the front at the start line, but this
year it was difficult. The numbers must have doubled.
That’s certainly what it looked like to me.
MA: So you’ve come down to Cape Town to
anchor the SABC’s broadcast of tomorrow’s
marathon. Do you usually try fit in a run yourself,
whether it’s a race, a parkrun or just a training run,
when you travel to cover a race?
VK: Definitely, whenever I go anywhere, I’ve got my
running kit in my bag and try to get out and do a run.
The beauty of being somebody that loves to run is
that you can do it absolutely anywhere.
MA: You’ve become the face of running in this
country, thanks to your work on SABC Sport, so do
you find that a lot of people recognise you during
races, and say hello or want to have their picture
taken with you?
VK: You know, runners are very chatty, and I’m
a runner, too, so I love a good chat. It starts with
somebody saying hello, and you can end up having
this life-changing conversation over 30 minutes, or 10
kilometres, and you’ve got a new friend. But I don’t
find it as easy to chat during trail races, because I
have to concentrate on where I’m putting my feet!
MA: You’ve run the Comrades twice, in 2010 and
2011, which came after you’d already worked
on the broadcast for several years, so I
would imagine you have plenty of
conversations with fellow runners
in that one?
VK: Of course, I had some
wonderful chats in those
races, but you know,
it’s funny, now I can’t
even think that I
did that distance
once upon a
time! The first
time, I finished
with just 13
minutes to
spare, and
I ended up
spending
two hours
in the
medical
tent, where they had to give me two glucose drips
and they couldn’t find a pulse at one stage. It was
crazy, and it was all because I made all the novice
mistakes, like not eating enough on the road. The
next year, I trained better, and I had learnt my lesson
from 2010, so I ate so much on the road – basically
every time somebody was offering, I took something,
and I ended up running 10:19. I haven’t run anything
like that again, but I did run the Two Oceans Ultra in
2014, because it’s the only big ultra in the country that
offers a Friday run, for those people who for religious
reasons can’t run on the Saturday. So I could run it
and then do the broadcast the next day.
This year I ran the Two Oceans Trail Run on the Friday
before the ultra, because I have fallen in love with trail
running, especially when I’m down in the Western
Cape. The trails here are absolutely magnificent... but
it’s a completely different type of running. One of the
first things that struck me about trail was the skill that
people have in running downhill, and you can see
what a difference it makes, even in a short 12km race
like today. I find it incredible how much time people
make up in using different techniques going downhill,
even on really steep slopes with big spiky rocks and
loose gravel. I have to walk a lot of the time, and can’t
believe the skill of these people flying past me down
the hills!
MA: Does it ever cross your mind that you’re
taking a risk running trails, in terms of having a
bad fall, which might affect your work?
VK: It worries my producer! And yesterday, one of
my colleagues said to me, “Vaylen, whatever you do,
just don’t fall, please, because on Sunday we need
your face to look how it does today!”
MA: Was that comment sparked by the fact that
you’re now considered accident-prone, after your
scooter accident and elbow injury?
VK: Ha, ha, ha, I actually do regularly trip over my
own feet sometimes, and I think all of the scars and
scrapes that I have are from being clumsy. When I
was three, my older brother got a bike that didn’t have
training wheels, but I also wanted to be on a bike that
didn’t have training wheels, but my parents wouldn’t
let me ride it, obviously because I couldn’t ride a bike
yet, so I snuck out early one Saturday morning, at
5:30am when everybody was still asleep, and tried to
ride his bike in the courtyard. I kicked the pedals, but
obviously my legs were too short, and next thing my
second toe on the left foot got stuck in between the
cog and the chain. My mom still tells the story about
how my screaming woke them all up, and my toe is
actually a little deformed because of that accident.
MA: Where does your love of sport come from?
VK: I get this question all the time, and I tell people
it feels as if sport has always been a part of my life.
I started doing cross country when I was in primary
school, but even before then I wanted to be involved
in all of the activities at school. Not that I was a
particularly strong team sports player, but I just
loved being involved and part of a team, and just
being out in the sunshine, as I grew up with a love
of being outdoors. For me it was much more about
participation. I think I may have run regional champs
in cross country when I was in my last year of primary
school, but I was more about cheering everybody on
than the competitiveness of running. Some people
have said I never really fulfilled my potential, but I
think you’ve either got that very competitive streak or
you don’t.
MA: Speaking of school days, did you have an
outgoing nature then, and the confidence to be a
presenter, an actor or public speaker or was this
something that came afterwards?
VK: No, it was always there. I was involved with
public speaking and drama from primary school right
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