ROAD RUNNING standing there and all of a sudden , this massive cannon goes off and everyone just starts running , but it still wasn ’ t as cluttered as Comrades , because they have various start lines , and on different levels of the bridge , before everyone merges down the road after seven kays . The wave starts do space things out , and you don ’ t have to focus as much on having too many people around you , but I ’ m still grateful that they do mat-to-mat timing , and only start recording your time when you cross the start line , because it took me six minutes to get over the line .”
Big Apple Experience
Once he got going , Travis says the race lived up to all his expectations , particularly the legendary support along the route . “ I think the only places that there weren ’ t people were on the bridges . Everywhere else , you had bands , people playing drums , loud music and people screaming and shouting … but on the bridges it was quiet . On the one very long bridge , it was just so quiet and peaceful , and you could actually soak up all the views and the scenery , but the closer you got to the other end of the bridge , the louder it got , and when you hit a sharp left after the bridge , the street just widened out and there were thousands of people on the side , all going crazy !”
The other thing that Travis really enjoyed was the cold weather , even though he is from KwaZulu-Natal , and therefore used to warm , humid conditions . “ When I run , I sweat quite a bit , and because I use a suction system to keep my prosthetic leg on , it loses suction when I sweat that much , which means I have to stop quite often . But the cold weather in New York was literally perfect for me , and I only had to stop five times in 42 kilometres . I mean , if I do a 10-kilometre race here in South Africa , especially somewhere like Durban , I ’ ll stop at least five times in just 10 kays !”
In the end , Travis crossed the finish line in a time of 3:26:41 , and says his actual moving time was 3:18 , with the extra eight to nine minutes taken up by stops to readjust his leg . “ It was the perfect race . My nutrition felt good , I didn ’ t get tired , my heart rate was low , and I felt happy from the start all the way to the finish . I ’ m really pleased with my time , because I
Travis with Angie Austin of New Balance South Africa
didn ’ t even train any speed for this marathon . I was training for UTMB when Angie phoned me and said , they ’ ve got a New York Marathon entry , if I ’ m keen . I said , of course I am , but there was no time to put a speed block in , so I ’ m super excited to see how much faster I can still go . I think I can do a sub-three-hour marathon with the right training , and the right racing conditions ,” he says .
The main reason he thinks he can go substantially faster is that he ran New York in a carbon-plated shoe for the first time , and says he is still getting up to speed in the shoe , so to say . “ I ran the Comrades in the New Balance Propel , but when Angie called about New York , I said I ’ m running on a carbon blade on one leg , so I ’ d like to run with a carbon plate on the other foot , too . Angie sent me the SC Trainer , and the SC Elite for the race itself , and they just work so well with the blade . I actually had to change up my whole running style , because I ended up striding out a lot more and reducing my cadence . Best of all , I am now getting the same bounce off each side , and actually getting the energy-return that both the shoe and the blade store , whereas in the past , it sometimes felt like my blade would bounce me too much on the right
The South African flag was loudly cheered by many during the New York run
New Balance asked Travis to be part of an inspirational campaign for New York
Celebrating his New York finish , proudly flying the Rejuvenate SA flag
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