TRAIL RUNNING
An elated but exhausted Matt after taking fifth place in Nice
“ Unfortunately , I was short , so while I had played flyhalf and fullback in school , at under-21 level size counts , so I found myself playing scrumhalf . Being smaller , you don ’ t get away with much in rugby , but I think a lot of my discipline comes from that background , having to work harder . Overall , I enjoyed it at the Sharks , and I think I learnt a lot , like being exposed to being asked to perform at the highest level , but I ’ ve always been a ‘ go big or go home ’ type of person , and I was honest with myself that I didn ’ t think I was going to make it big time in rugby . As a whole , mentally and physically , I could tell I wasn ’ t cut out for it ,” says Matt .
After a year in Durban , he decided to leave rugby behind and enrolled at the IMM Graduate School in Stellenbosch to study a degree in marketing and management sciences . In between his studies , he also bought , restored and sold boats , specifically semi-rigid rubber ducks , and that , ironically , contributed to him moving into running . “ When you ’ re on the water , looking up at the mountains , I found myself thinking that I ’ d like to be up there . I started really enjoying nature , and when I met some guys in Stellenbosch in 2018 , who were into all types of sport , they kind of got me into that outdoors vibe , and enjoying the grind ,” says Matt .
Matt had last run regularly in primary school , making it to the Western Province trials in the middle distances ( 800m and 1500m ), but then rugby had become his focus . Now , years later , he was running regularly with friends , and he says , “ Near the end of 2018 , I just thought , I could be pretty decent at this , so I signed up to be coached by Brendan Lombard . He ’ s an elite runner himself , so he was very good for my mindset and really made me believe in myself , and he was key to me getting started in running .”
Instant Success Story
The other thing Matt did near the end of 2018 was to tackle his first 100km event at the Ultra-trail Cape Town ( UTCT ) in November . In July of that year , he had run The Beast , a shorter ultra of around 50 to 60km , as a training run , and admits that it was hard . “ It took me about nine hours , because I still weighed about 80 kilograms after my rugby days , and I think I completely numbed myself to the hours spent out there . I ’ ve lost over 20 kilo ’ s since then , so I find running a lot easier !” says Matt .
Now , after three months of training with Brendan , he felt ready to go longer . “ I asked Brendan to train me intensely , like an elite , and if I enjoyed the 100km race , I would take it seriously after that , but I also asked him to just let me have fun out there . So , I went into the race with no pressure , just wanting to finish , and it was one of my finest runs . I did way better than I expected , finishing somewhere around 18th or 19th , and I really enjoyed it . That ’ s when I told Brendan , I wanted to do this as my career .”
Matt first did an extra six months of college at the beginning of 2019 , to add a business project management course to his list of academic accolades , and thanks to support from his parents , he was then able to turn his full attention to his running . “ I was running a moving company on the side , with a friend , and I was still buying and selling boats , so I was still working , but I was able to focus on my running ,” he says .
That saw him run the Addo 50 Miler in the Eastern Cape as his first competitive race . “ Ryan Sandes and a top French guy were running , and there was a Zimbabwean that I think I should have beaten , but I came fourth , so I was mentally stoked . That gave me a lot of international entry points , because there were top guys there , and my focus at that stage was on building my points , to get into the bigger races around the world . After that I did the Mac Mac Ultra in Mpumalanga , another 50-miler , as well as the Bastille Day 50km , and I won both of those . They are ‘ just ’ local SA races , at the end of the day , but it showed that my training was working .”
From Cramps to COVID
That brought Matt back to the UTCT at the end of 2019 , and he says he felt ready for his first competitive 100km race . However , just six weeks before the race , he injured himself when he fell while training on Lion ’ s Head . He was completely booked off training for two weeks , could only cycle after that , and started running again a mere 10 days before the race . He still managed to finish 14th , going about two hours faster than in 2018 and improving on his finishing position of the previous year , but unsurprisingly , he says it was ‘ tough day in the office .’
“ I lost my conditioning and fitness in those weeks before the race , and my hips were really tight after I managed a last 25km training run , but I just told myself I was well rested for the race . I ended up having a terrible day in terms of cramping and suffering , and Brendan and I actually ended up finishing together , 14th and 15th . It was cool to run together as a coach and athlete , because you don ’ t often get to do that , but most importantly , it motivated me , because I knew I could do better .”
Matt was therefore really looking forward to 2020 . Having picked up a sponsorship from Altra , he went back to the Addo 50 Miler and this time won it , in spite of extreme temperatures in the 50s at times . He says he ran a great race and it felt a bit like redemption , as he still felt he should at least have finished third the year before , so it really pumped him up for the year to come … but then COVID arrived and the world shut down . “ I was at my parents during the lockdown and I was pretty concerned as a whole , as I didn ’ t know what this meant for sport , so my dad and I had some good conversations about my future !”
38 ISSUE 155 | www . modernathlete . co . za Staring up at mountains is what motivated Matt to run to the top