ROAD RUNNING
Jeff Ramokoka
The Bus Drivers
On Sunday 10 June , the 93 rd Comrades Marathon will again once see thousands of runners take on the Ultimate Human Race , with all those runners hoping to make it all the way Pietermaritzburg to Durban to claim that coveted little medal . And once again , many will be relying on the Modern Athlete Comrades Marathon Pacesetters to get them home on time . – BY SEAN FALCONER
Linda Hlophe
If you ’ ve ever seen one of the Modern Athlete Comrades Marathon Pacesetters bring a bus into the finish of the race , you ’ ll know that singing , dancing , crying , high-fiving , fist-pumping , hugging and kissing are the order of the day . It remains one of the highlights of the race to see these large groups finishing , and many a spectator has been seen to wipe away a little tear of emotion at the sight of all those happy runners .
These are the only official pacing ‘ buses ’ at Comrades , run with the permission of the CMA , and the volunteer ‘ bus drivers ’ carry flags with their target time so that runners can easily spot them , hop on the bus of their choice and rely on the Pacesetter to guide them home on time . The buses have become a huge part of the race , and while some runners complain about the huge groups blocking the road and making overtaking difficult , many more love the vibe created in the buses .
For many years Modern Athlete organised the standard sub-9:00 ( Bill Rowan cut-off ), sub-11:00 ( Bronze cut-off ) and sub-12:00 ( Vic Clapham cut-off ) buses ,
Johan van Tonder and in 2016 we added a sub-10:00 bus , which proved just as popular as the more established buses . Then in 2017 we brought Gauteng Pacesetters co-ordinator Buks van Heerden on board and went still bigger , adding sub-8:30 , sub-9:30 , sub-11:30 and sub- 11:45 buses , but this did unfortunately lead to some confusion out on the road , as various pacers were running on different race-day strategies , with different fade differentials , and thus some of the buses were a bit mixed up in the early stages of the race . To solve that problem , the 2018 buses , co-ordinated by Buks and Mindlo Mdhluli of KZN Pacesetters , will run with similar strategies , all sticking as close as possible to pacing charts created by Western Province Pacesetter Rassie Pretorius .
TRIED AND TRUSTED PACERS
The list of 2018 Comrades Pacesetters will be captained by Madoko Ndlovu , long-time driver of the hugely popular Madoko ’ s Bus , and the list of bus drivers once again features many well-known and highly experience stalwarts of previous years , such as Johan van Tonder , Linda Hlophe , Jeff Ramokoka and Derrick Rondganger . For the first time ever , we will offer a sub-7:30 silver medal bus , and it is also brilliant to see that the Pacesetters hail from all over the country . Most have been running as Pacesetters regularly this year in build-up races to Comrades , so many runners all over the country already know and trust their pacing . These , then , are the men and women who will be carrying the flags in this year ’ s Comrades :
Sub-7:30 ( Silver medal ) Tshililo Ngwana ( Gauteng , 11 medals )
Sub-9:00 ( Bill Rowan medal ) Johan van Tonder ( Gauteng , 16 medals ) Joe Faber ( KwaZulu-Natal ( 21 medals )
Sub-10:00 ( Safe Bronze medal ) Linda Hlophe ( Gauteng , 14 medals ) James Nkosi ( KwaZulu-Natal , 12 medals ) George Mojela ( Limpopo , 9 medals )
Sub-11:00 ( Bronze medal ) Madoko Ndlovu ( Gauteng , 13 medals ) Jeff Ramokoka ( Gauteng , 19 medals ) Arnold Nkosi ( Gauteng , 10 medals )
Sub-11:30 ( Safe Vic Clapham medal ) Gerald Pavel ( KwaZulu-Natal , 6 medals ) Charl Whitaker ( Gauteng , 11 medals ) Gary Dixon ( UK Guest Pacer , 2 medals )
Sub-11:45 ( Vic Clapham medal ) Claus Kempen ( Free State , 13 medals )
Sub-12:00 ( Vic Clapham medal ) Derrick Rodganger ( Western Province , 11 medals ) Lucas Seleka ( Limpopo , 11 medals ) Shahieda Thungo ( Gauteng , 2 medals )
Please note that specific buses or drivers may still change between the time of writing and race day , and Modern Athlete will post updated info on social media as it become available . There will also be a few ‘ backup drivers ’ on race day , who will be running with the buses to gain experience of pacing at Comrades .
Derrick Rodganger
Modern Athlete would like to thank our Comrades Pacesetters for their incredible spirit and camaraderie , and being willing to take on the responsibility of helping fellow runners . We look forward to welcoming all the buses home on Comrades race day .
Images : Jetline Action Photo
16 ISSUE 107 JUNE 2018 / www . modernathlete . co . za