Modern Athlete Magazine 173 October 2024 | Page 22

C o l u m n

THE RUNNING MANN

The Knysan Forest Marathon profile

The Knysna Forest Marathon has a very interesting origin story

Their planning was well underway when they received some bad news . For those wondering whether Athletics South Africa ’ s monopoly on all things running is anything new , all the way back in the early 1980s the then national federation ( It wasn ’ t known as ASA yet ) was claiming exclusive approval rights , and duly delivered the bad news that , only clubs affiliated to the national federation were allowed to organise any running events in SA of over 5km . Spence was left with two choices : Get a club from the much larger neighbouring town of George to take over the race organisation , or form his own club . As history tells us , Spence chose the latter , and the Knysna Marathon Club was conceived in early 1984 , with the Knysna Forest Marathon born a few months later .

Exploring the Forest

It can be very cold waiting for the start of the Knysna Forest Marathon , and runners are encouraged to wear old clothes or buy blankets to donate to the local community . There is a special truck for these donations , on which I have often deposited several layers of clothes , which always pleases my wife , as she is continually complaining about the clutter in my cupboards . However , any risk of getting cold is mitigated by the first 3km , which are a steady climb before the route flattens out for 3km . What follows is another 2km climb and then the route flattens out again . At the 11.5km mark , you veer right onto the road to Uniondale for a 2x2km dogleg .

When I ran my 10th Knysna in 2013 , the marshal at the turnaround point of this dogleg was ‘ asleep on the job ’ and the frontrunners got halfway to Uniondale before they realised their mistake . I remember thinking ‘ this is not right ,’ and , after not seeing a distance board for a kilometre , managed to turn the field around by shouting ‘ we ’ ve gone the wrong way ’ and waving my arms confidently like an air traffic controller . It was quite a surreal experience seeing a wave of runners change direction , but the unfortunate result was that I immediately went from being in the top 10 % of the field to being stone last .

After the dogleg , there is a violent 1km plummet onto Kom-se-Pad , a road that you follow for much of the rest of the race . The exact origins of the name remain unknown , but consensus is that the road was named after a well-known woodcutter in the early 1900s . This section of the course comprises rising undulations to the highest point ( 489m ) at 24km , and a spectacular viewing spot . What follows is 8.5km of downhill , some of which is gentle , but there are plenty of quad-crushing , glute-smashing plunges . The last kilometre in particular is an absolutely brutal ‘ heavy vehicles engage lowest gear ’ spiralling plummet to the Gouna River .

Kom-se-Pad is an historic and very scenic road through the heart of the forest

The Knysan Forest Marathon route

An Interesting Case

Earlier in the race I had bumped into David and Sandra Case and ended up running much of the race in their company . Both of them had run Comrades a couple of weeks beforehand , and were doing a ‘ route tester ’ for their upcoming 1000 Kays of Caring challenge where , together with Emmanuel Makhafola , they ’ d be running 1000km in 21 days to raise money for the Siphila Sonke charity organisation in Grabouw .

As an aside , the 1000 Kays of Caring team raised over R450,000 for the Siphila Sonke charity , which exceeded their stretch target . I sponsored a rand per kilometre if David added a Speedo day to the itinerary , which he duly honoured . However , they are still looking for a long-term sustainability partner , so I am putting this request out there on their behalf , in the hope that it finds the right pair of eyes , “ Ideally our efforts would have found their way across the desk of an executive of Tiger Brands , of Pioneer Foods , etc . who could really make a massive difference at a very small cost to themselves . The fact remains that Siphila Sonke still needs help with the costs of the food parcels in order to ensure sustainability ,” says David .

There are plenty of hills to overcome during the marathon , but the views from the top are worth it