Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 108, July 2018 | Page 24

ROAD RUNNING
STORIES
FROM THE ROAD
While running marathons and ultra all over the country, Stuart
Mann meets and runs with some inspirational people, and is told
some incredible stories that he includes as fascinating sidebars in his
Running Mann blogs. Here are just two of these stories from chance
meetings, with Danie De Wet and Jeremy Knox, in recent races.
– BLOG EXTRACTS BY STUART MANN, EDITED BY SEAN FALCONER
SCHOOL OF HARD KNOX
Excerpt from the Bruintjieshoogte Ultra race report, run in Somerset East, Eastern Province
[Marathon #186 / Unique Marathon #100 / 21 April 2018]
Stuart enjoying the fresh
air of Bruintjieshoogte
Jeremy had a great time over the first 60km of Comrades. In fact, he
was having such a good time that he missed his club’s seconding tables
(and his special jungle juice concoction). However, the novelty of one’s
first Comrades starts to wear off after 60km, and although this was
the “Up” run, Jeremy’s day started going steadily downhill from there.
Faced with the heat, cramps and repeated vomiting, he did the sensible
thing and declared defeat – he even went so far as to remove his shoes
before walking over to one of the bailing busses.
Luckily for Jeremy, this was an experienced bus driver who gave Jeremy
a once-over and told him to put his shoes back on, as he’d “seen much
worse on the day.” Jeremy was too tired to argue and decided to think
about life over a quick 20-minute power nap in the shade of a nearby
tree. On waking, he calculated that he had four hours to do the last
30km and got going again, but took almost two hours covering the next
10km. However, his body slowly accepted the idea that he wasn’t going
to quit and pulled itself together, but then came Polly Shortts, the last
and most brutal of the Big 5 Hills on the “Up” run.
This is the Eastern Cape’s oldest ultra (2018 was the 41st running of the event), but it remains
a hidden gem, highlighted by the fact that only 35 runners have received a permanent number
for 10 ultra finishes, which must be the lowest “times run / numbers awarded” ratio in the
country. Meanwhile, just seven permanent numbers have also been awarded for the 25km
“half ultra.”
I was on track for a decent negative split until about 12km in, when I hooked up with Jeremy
Knox – and ended up with a massive negative split instead! I passed him several times over
the course and noticed that he would take a few swigs of a special ‘jungle juice concoction’
when he started to slow down. A few minutes later, the juice would kick in and he would come
bounding past me again. We still managed a few chats, and on the sprint back into Somerset
East, Jeremy relayed the gruesome story of his first Comrades.
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT
An American running friend recently asked me, “What makes the Comrades great?” There are
many factors, but the runners – and the courage they display on the day – is a major factor
(let’s hope the organisers of our major races remember that in their future decision-making),
and Jeremy’s story bears repeating, because his attitude epitomises that of the Comrades
runner.
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ISSUE 108 JULY 2018 / www.modernathlete.co.za
ONE LAST ATTEMPT
By now his watch had died and the sun had set, so he was running
blind, hoping to still somehow make the cut-off. It wasn’t long before
another bus driver came to his aid in the form of Buks van Heerden,
driving the “last chance saloon” 12-hour bus, which was packed with
a couple of hundred runners (but there’s always room for one more).
Jeremy climbed aboard and got his copper Vic Clapham medal with
Jeremy Knox during the race
I
f you want to celebrate an important life event over a memorable dinner, you’re not going
to choose McDonalds. You want something that’s small, personal and intimate. You don’t
want to rush through your evening either – and may well prolong the festivities with an extra
course or some side dishes. (In running terms, the best way to prolong the experience is to
run an ultra!) Now Somerset East may not offer much in the way of fine dining options, but it
does offer the smallest and most personal ultra-marathon in the country, which is why I chose
Bruintjieshoogte to be my unique marathon #100.
Jeremy managed to summit Little Pollies and celebrated the
achievement with another snooze on the side of the road. This time he
was woken by one of the water table volunteers who was raking up
discarded sachets. A young spectator whispered, “You can’t quit now,”
which gave Jeremy the motivation to dust himself off and have one last
crack at getting to Pietermaritzburg before the cut-off.