Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 115, February 2019 | Page 16

THE RUNNING
MANN
By Stuart Mann
RUNNING IN THE DEAD CENTRE OF SA
I recently researched the most geographically extreme marathons in South Africa, which led to me wondering which is the
most central. It turns out that the geographic centre of South Africa is very close to Bloemfontein. Now I’ve run several
marathons and ultras in the Free State, but have managed to avoid Bloemfontein, South Africa’s seventh largest city
and judicial capital, until now. In fact, I’d never even spent a night in Bloemfontein before entering the Music Marathon.
Legend has it that Bloemfontein is hot, boring and flat so I decided to put these stereotypes to the test.
(Marathon #199 / Unique marathon #110)
hour it took me to shower and pack-up before driving back to Johannesburg. Fact
checked: Yes, Bloemfontein is really hot!
Bloemfontein is the dead
centre of South Africa
Fact Check #1: Is Bloemfontein Hot?
A little-known piece of trivia is that the author of Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien,
was born in Bloemfontein in 1892. He only spent the first three years of his life
there – the death of his father necessitated that the family return to England – and
although young John Ronald Reuel was bitten by an extremely venomous baboon
spider whilst living in Bloemfontein, he had no memories of this ordeal. In fact, he
retained just one solitary memory of his formative years toddling around the Free
State, and that was of “a hot country.”
The Bloemfontein heat obviously burnt deep into Tolkien’s subliminal conscious,
because eventually the psychological scarring resurfaced when he literally (or
should that be literarily) transferred his “hot country” memories from central South
Africa to Middle-earth as the cracks of Mount Doom, Mordor’s fiery volcanic pit,
which was the only place hot enough to destroy the One Ring.
Back to the race... To
counter the heat, the race
gets going just after sunrise
at 5:30am. Although I am
not a morning person, I was
grateful that we got going
early and ran as much as
possible during the coolest
part of the day. It was
already starting to bake at
9:30am when I finished, and
the temperature rocketed
from 26° to 31°C in the half
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ISSUE 115 FEBRUARY 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
When people get bored they sleep. Some people get so bored that they can’t sleep
– this is called insomnia. After protracted periods of extreme boredom-induced
insomnia, idle hands start
getting itchy and go to
work. When a whole horde
of incredibly bored people
get together and pool their
collective boredom, this
phenomenon sometimes
results in the birth of a new
political party. OK, just
joking, but the sleepless
hollow of Bloemfontein has
birthed the two political
parties that have had the
biggest impact on South
African history – the African
National Congress (ANC) in
1912 and the National Party
in 1914.
Being the Music Marathon, and with the local radio station OFM
as one of the title sponsors, there are several mobile
music stations that jazz up the route with pop music
from the 80s, 90s and 00s (sometimes it’s fun
to mix your drinks, metaphors and music
genres). The organisers aim to make
this the “most colourful, music and
fun-filled running event” in the
country – and the support tables
are encouraged to show off
their artistic flair by theming
themselves accordingly
and providing regular
musical interludes for
the runners.
My pick of the race
was the Guns ‘n
Roses* table. I
had kept myself
well-hydrated at
the preceding
tables, which
meant I was able
Fact Check #2: Is Bloemfontein Boring?