Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 114, January 2019 | Page 19

ROAD RUNNING
BROKEN
RECORDS
(AND TREADMILLS)
Only a very small select group of runners ever burn a treadmill out by over-using
it. Well, Johan van Tonder, broke seven this past year alone. Little wonder
that he says he is not so welcome in several Joburg gyms these days! Similarly
only a very small select group of runners have their names in the Guinness Book
of Records... and there again Johan can put his hand up. That’s because on 10
November, he clocked 163 kilometres to officially break the 12-hour treadmill
record he had already unofficially broken a year earlier. – BY SEAN FALCONER
World Record, so I submitted paperwork for that, but it takes up to 16 months for records to
be recognised, so I am still waiting for that certificate.”
In the meantime, an Australian runner improved the Guinness Record earlier this year, raising
the mark to 147.3km and equalling the World Record, which just spurred Johan on to make
his mark official. “So in 2018 I got my Guinness paperwork in immediately after Comrades,
so that the record would be recognised if I broke it again,” he says. And that was just the
beginning of the proverbial hoops Johan had to jump through.
P
erhaps better known for regularly carrying the sub-9:00
pacesetting flag at the Comrades Marathon since 2003, 41-year-
old Roodepoort-based marketing manager and father of two
sons, Johan van Tonder, did his first treadmill charity run in 2011,
having decided to run to raise funds for sick children. “Each year after
I complete the Comrades and Washie ultras, I search for sick children
who need help, investigate their medical cases and expenses, open a
trust for them, and then get people to sponsor my run. All of the money
is paid direct to the trust and the parents are given the deposit slip,”
says Johan.
It was after his 2016 run that one of Johan’s corporate sponsors
suggested he try for the Guinness Record for treadmill running, and
when he looked up the then record, he saw it was 146.7km, while the
actual World Record was 147.3km. (The two records are administered
by different bodies. - Ed.) “I was confident I could beat that, but for my
2017 run I didn’t know the process and didn’t register the Guinness
record attempt paperwork in time – it has to be submitted 16 weeks
before any attempt – so I knew my total would not be official. I still
decided to go after the record anyway, and ran 161.1km, which beat the
“For the record to count for Guinness, I had to get
my treadmill calibrated, had to get registered ASA
athletes in as referees, plus non-runners from the
public as well, had to organise press coverage,
had to record the run on the machine and save
it on a memory stick, and had to organise a full
video recording of the attempt. I even had to have
myself videoed when changing into a dry shirt or
when I took a short break, to prove that I ran it all
on the same day.” During the run, he also had to
stick to strict rules: No touching or leaning on the
side railings.
TRAINING FOR THE
TREADMILL
Speaking of the support crew, Johan went into this
record attempt with a strong crew in his corner.
Besides his wife Charlene and various friends,
he also had three coaches from his gym training
group involved in the build-up and attempt, and he
says they played a huge role in his record success.
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