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because he thought it was going to be my last one, and said never again. But I found out recently that he secretly entered for 2018, because a friend from Australia is running, so he’ s in training again.”
These days, Candyce still regularly podiums in races, but she says she actually rarely races hard any more.“ I did about 1500 to 1600km in races last year, but of that, the only one that was actually racing hard was the Cape Town Marathon – and even there I actually only raced to 30km, because there were no toilets along the N1 stretch for a much-needed‘ Candyce Stop.’ My body decrees how well I will run on the day, and nowadays I prefer to just run with friends and for the club vibe. That’ s why running my last four Comrades slowly and socially are amongst my running highlights. I got to spend time with running friends, while running the whole day!”
This is where the vibrant Carbineers Western Province club comes into the picture. Candyce and her clubmates are often seen running together, even stopping mid-race for a one-footed Carbs pose pic. That entails everybody standing on one leg, with the other leg slightly lifted and knee bent at 90 degrees.“ It’ s just incredible that we can still balance on one leg after a big climb,” jokes Candyce.“ It originally started with the Red Sock Community, and we just carried on doing it at Carbs. It’ s become our thing, and all part of the incredible family vibe of our club, where everybody knows if a Carb at the back ran a PB, and that’ s as valuable as the guy up front winning a race. That’ s how it should be.”
FOR CLUB AND PROVINCE
There is also an interesting story behind the Carbs WP club, given that it shares a name with the Natal Carbineers club of Pietermaritzburg. Candyce
explains that in 2013 the guys doing the Unogwaja ride from Cape Town to Pietermaritzburg wanted to then run the Comrades in Carbs colours, because the original Unogwaja, Phil Masterton-Smith, had run in Carbs colours in 1931 when he won the race, before moving to the Cape and cycling to the race in 1933.
“ You’ d think it would be possible, as the Unogwajas were going to be running for 12 hours and doing it for a good cause, but Comrades and the provincial bodies said the domicile rule meant they had to run in the colours of a Western Province club, so my Dad said, fine, let’ s create a Carbs club in Western Province! We only had 13 members at the end of that first year, but year on year we’ ve been the fastestgrowing club in the province, relatively speaking, and at the end of 2017 we were 220-strong, and
could soon reach 350 judging by the enquiries I have received this year!”
Meanwhile, Candyce was recently voted in as new Chair of the Western Province Cross Country Committee, and has been tasked with rejuvenating the discipline.“ The people running it did a solid job, but I think it can be transformed into something even bigger and better. For starters, we’ ve moved a lot of the league meets to Sunday afternoons, as Saturdays clashed with both road races and school sports. There was some push-back, but we argued that Sunday is a family day, so why not bring the whole family to cross country, as we’ ll even have a food truck there. I realise you don’ t change these things overnight, but it’ s about being proactive to change things for the better, and I’ m very excited to see what we can achieve.”
The famous Carbs pose
ARE YOU
UP FOR THE
CHALLENGE?
Sunday, 18 March 2018 Finish at Amphitheatre, Durban Promenade
42km / 21km / 10km / 5km / 40km timed cycle
Qualify for the ultimate human race, the Comrades 2018.
# ChallengeYourself
Fast course for possible Personal Best attempt. Long weekend for out of town runners. One of SA’ s premier marathon events. There is a challenge for the entire family!
Online Entries: www. deloittechallenge. co. za
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CHALLENGE
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