ROAD RUNNING
A Year of
Surprises
So far 2018 has been an incredible year for Salome Cooper , from winning the Om Die Dam 50km in March , to her best ever run at Comrades , and then leading the SA women ’ s team to a silver medal at the World 100km Championships in Croatia , while also bringing home an individual top ten position . – BY MANFRED SEIDLER
In spite of being tired from a long flight back to SA , coming just a day after running the World 100km Championships in Sveti Martin , you could not keep the smile off the face of Salome Cooper when she arrived back in SA on Monday 10 September . The day before she had finished seventh in the women ’ s field and led team mates Deanne Horn , Fikile Mbethuma and Lisa Collet to a team silver , to go with Bongmusa Mthembu taking third overall in the men ’ s race , while also leading the men ’ s team to a silver medal . “ I really did not expect such a good 2018 , but it has been incredible ,” enthused Salome after touching down at OR Tambo International Airport , but that hardly does her great year justice .
It was clear Salome ’ s running was going well when she unexpectedly won the Om Die Dam Ultra Marathon at Hartbeespoort in March , beating a solid field in the process . “ That came as a complete surprise for me . There were some strong women racing , but I felt I had more in the tank if I needed it .” She covered the 50km in 3:39:48 , finishing some 11 minutes ahead of second-placed Cobie Smith . Her next big race , another 50km at the Loskop Ultra in April , saw her place fourth overall . “ Loskop was really just a hard training run for me , so finishing fourth behind Charne ( Bosman ), Ann ( Ashworth ) and Jennifer ( Koech ) was really a good place to be .”
These were already impressive performances by the single mother of a 14-year-old son from Boksburg , given that she works full-time as a sales rep . That means her day starts with a run in the early morning , then a full day on the road before doing her main training in the evening , sometimes only finishing around 8:30pm , but more success was to follow at the Comrades Marathon in June . Salome came home in
6:53:18 , finishing 11 th , a mere minute behind Yolande Maclean , and thus just missing the last gold medal , but she was still happy with her performance . “ Sure , the gold would have been nice , but it was my best time ever , and over 90km , not 89km , so I really am very happy with that run .”
Unexpected Call-up
After that , Salome was ready to put her feet up for a bit , but then came the request to be part of the South African team for the World Champs . “ That came out of the blue . It is a huge privilege to run for your country and I was at the World 100km Championships in 2011 , where the team won bronze and Lindsay van Aswegen ran an individual bronze . But that was seven years ago . The world of ultra-running has changed and whatever experience I had picked up then wasn ’ t really going to be of much help to me . And there was not much time to get ready . But how could I say no ? It is such an honour .”
Neither Salome nor any of the other women who went to Croatia were expecting to be racing at a World Championship event a mere two months after the Comrades Marathon , so all their preparation was geared towards the 90km Down Run on 10 June . “ All indications were that I was in good shape and that I would have a good Comrades , but at no stage did the World 100km Championships ever enter into the equation . Being selected was a big surprise for me , and then I found the all-important preparation was tough . All the other ladies I usually train with were in rest phase , so I had to do those dreadful long runs on my own . Imagine running the equivalent of a Two Oceans Marathon on your own at under 5min / km . That was incredibly hard .”
When the team left SA on Tuesday 4 September , Salome found herself sitting at the top table during
The South African quartet worked together for the first 60km
Images : Lindsey Parry & courtesy CMA , IRunFar . com , Salome Cooper
18 ISSUE 111 OCTOBER 2018 / www . modernathlete . co . za