Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 114, January 2019 | Page 41

TRAIL RUNNING THIRD TIME LUCKY? As 2018 rolled on, Mubeen decided to give the UTCT another crack, having finally finished a 100km race earlier in the year at Ultra-Trail Drakensberg, even though it took him 24 hours. In other words, he would need to be considerably faster to beat the UTCT cut-offs, but he was more concerned about the fact that he had been suffering from severe cramps in long races. “I had focused a lot more on climbing in my training, doing a lot more vert, and I did all my training on trail – the more confident you are off-road, the faster you can run – but DNFing had become a bit of a bad habit. That included the 2018 Martloth Mountain Challenge 55km, where the final cut-off is 12 hours. I cramped badly and was still on the mountain after 13 hours!” That saw him start the 2018 UTCT conservatively, but early in the race he began cramping in the right calf, which soon spread to other parts of both legs. “I had done a 50km training run without any problems, but now I was cramping after just 20km. I still had 80km to go, and hoped I could run it off, but I felt really rough at the top of Table Mountain and asked for anti-cramping medication, then took more at Constantia Nek and again at Llandudno. I pushed on towards Hout Bay, but by 50km I was well behind time, so decided to bail at Suther Peak. Many people bail at that point, because that long, hot, dry climb will make you suffer even more.” Naturally, Mubeen was heartbroken to record a third consecutive DNF in the race. “Geez, I was down, because if there is something I really want to finish, I will always try as hard as possible to get there. I had done six months of hard training and tried hard to work out the cause of the cramping, but it still went wrong on race day.” And thus the million dollar question arises: Will he try again in 2019? “If you asked me just after each UTCT whether I want to try again, the answer would be no, because it is an expensive race and you need to put in a lot of training, but I would like to finish it, so I will see about 2019. I’ve learnt a lot over the last few years, so I can still take the good out of my experiences, and even if I don’t run, I would still like to be part of the support crew, because it really is a great event.” TANZANIA ZIMBABWE KILIMANJARO VICTORIA FALLS 42.2 KM | 21.1 KM | 5 KM FUN RUN MARATHON 2019 03 March 2019 42.2 KM | 21.1 KM | 7.5 KM FUN RUN ENTER ONLINE 07 July 2019 ENTER ONLINE Run on the foothills of Kili, the Kilimanjaro Premium Lager marathon attracts over 11 500 athletes from around the world across the 3 events. Winding through coffee plantations and local villages, it’s a festive run attracting many of Africa’s top athletes. Add on a Kilimanjaro climb, safari in world renowned game parks, or soak up some sun on the beaches of Zanzibar. Feel the thunder in one of the world’s most scenic races. Race across the Victoria Falls bridge before winding along the banks of the Zambezi and through the National Park. The Econet Victoria Falls Marathon is a fun, wild race best celebrated aboard the official post-race sunset cruise. Make a holiday of it, and add on a visit to Lake Kariba, Hwange or Chobe. T: [phone] E: [email protected] www.wildfrontiers.com /kilimanjaromarathon T: [phone] E: [email protected] www.wildfrontiers.com /VictoriaFallsMarathon t: @WildFrontiers_ /VictoriaFallsMarathon /kilimanjaromarathon 41 t: @WildFrontiers_