Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 116, March 2019 | Page 32

ADVERTORIAL
News
from the
club
T
wo-time Olympian René Kalmer boasts 40 national titles in a career
that already spans two decades. During that time, she has represented
South Africa 16 times, including the 2008 Olympics, where she ran the
1500m, and 2012 in London, where she competed in the marathon. She has
also represented SA three times in the World Half Marathon Championships
and four times at the World Cross Country Championships, as well at World
Championships, World Indoor Championships, Africa Championships and
the All Africa Games. She is one of SA’s most flexible athletes, given that she
ranks amongst the all-time best in all distances from 800m on the track all
the way up to the marathon.
The 38-year-old Murray & Roberts athlete struggled with a hip injury from
2015, and the following year was even told that it may be a career-ending
injury. That news, and not qualifying for the Rio Olympics, were hard pills to
swallow, but Kalmer kept going from doctor to doctor to try and diagnose
the injury, and eventually found out she had a torn labrum in her hip. Kalmer
duly went under the knife, even though she knew she may not be able to
run again. “It was a risk I had to take if there was ever a chance for me to be
competitive again.”
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though, as she fell pregnant in 2016 and is now
the mother of two-year-old Karli, a regular supporter at Mom’s track sessions.
As Kalmer says, “In Karli’s eyes I can do no wrong, and I am the world’s best
mom. She certainly has put things into a different perspective for me.”
Nolene
Conrad
Kalmer Announces
Ultra Debut Plans
Despite a slow start to the year due to a hamstring niggle, Kalmer’s running pedigree is
such that she should be taken seriously as a contender at Two Oceans, in spite of it being
her first outing beyond the marathon mark. “It will be my first ultra, so I’m not in it to win
it, but I intend to be competitive.” However, she adds that this does not mean the end of
her competitive marathon career. “I want to try and qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in
Tokyo. I know it will be tough, as women’s marathon running in SA is strong right now, but I
want to give it another go before I then compete in the ultras on a more regular basis.”
Athletes do not attain the heights that Kalmer has reached without being made of stern
stuff, so it certainly will be an interesting race to watch unfold. Who knows, this may just be
the beginning of a new running career for René Kalmer.
Ankle Anguish
for Conrad
A
twisted ankle has resulted in a torn ligament for Nolene Conrad,
forcing her into a moonboot for six weeks. Conrad twisted the ankle
the day before she was due to run the Osaka Women’s Marathon in
Japan on 27 January, and it is likely that she then tore the already stretched
ligament in her foot during the race. She still finished in 2:36:21, close to her
PB of 2:34:39.
As a result, she was in excruciating pain the day after the race, and thus took
two weeks off from running. Unfortunately, the enforced rest did not solve
the problem, as the pain flared up as soon as she tried running again.
Conrad is philosophical about the injury: “I’ve been here before with my hip,
which was much worse. I’m running in the pool and can cycle, so will work
really hard on keeping my fitness. I do not want to be out for too long, as
I want to make the SA Marathon team to the World Championships.” (The
World Champs will take place in Doha, Qatar, in late September.)
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ISSUE 116 MARCH 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
Now Kalmer has set her sights on her first ultra-marathon, and she will line up
on 20 April in the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town. “The last
four years have been incredibly tough, dealing with injury and childbirth, and I
needed a new challenge. It is the 50 th running of the event, so it is the perfect
time for me to move to the ultra,” she says.
René Kalmer