Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 119, June 2019 | Page 12
PACESETTERS
Meet Your 2019
Comrades
Welcome aboard, Bonitas!
Pacesetters
huge part of the race, and while some runners complain
about the huge groups being difficult to overtaking or
get past, many more runners love the vibe created in
the buses.
The 2019 Programme
I
f you’ve ever seen one of the Comrades Marathon
Pacesetters bring a ‘bus’ into the finish of the race,
you’ll know that singing, dancing, crying, high-fiving,
fist-pumping, hugging and kissing are the order of the
day. It remains one of the highlights of the race to see
these large groups finishing, and many a spectator has
been seen to wipe away a little tear of emotion at the
sight of all those happy runners.
These are the only official pacesetting ‘buses’ at
Comrades, run with the permission of the CMA and
organised by Modern Athlete magazine in conjunction
with the provincial branches of volunteer pacesetting
organisations. The ‘bus drivers’ carry flags with their
target time so that runners can easily spot them, hop
on the bus of their choice, and rely on the Pacesetter
to guide them home on time. The buses have become a
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For many years Modern Athlete organised the standard
sub-9:00 (Bill Rowan cut-off), sub-11:00 (Bronze cut-off)
and sub-12:00 (Vic Clapham cut-off) buses, and in 2016
we added a sub-10:00 bus, which proved just as popular
as the more established buses. Then in 2017 we brought
Gauteng Pace Setters co-ordinator Buks van Heerden
on board to help with recruitment of Comrades
Pacesetters and went still bigger, adding sub-8:30,
sub-9:30, sub-11:30 and sub-11:45 buses, but this did
unfortunately lead to some confusion out on the road,
as various pacers were running on different race-day
strategies, with differing fade differentials built into
their planned pacing, and thus some of the buses were a
bit mixed up in the early stages of the race.
To solve that problem, the 2018 buses, now co-
ordinated by Buks and Mindlo Mdhluli of KZN Pace
Setters, ran with similar pacing strategies, all sticking as
close as possible to pacing charts created by Western
Province Pacesetter Rassie Pretorius. Also, for the first
time in Comrades pacesetting history, a sub-7:30 silver
medal bus was added.
For 2019, the silver bus has been shelved due to two
considerations. First is the introduction of the new
Isavel Roche Kelly medal for women finishing outside
the top 10 (gold medals) but under the silver cut-off,
but second, and more importantly, because the silver
medal bus may inadvertently provide illegal assistance
to one or more women who are in contention for prize
money in the team competition. As per strict new
ASA rules introduced at the beginning of 2019, there
is a clear difference between ‘pacing,’ which benefits
contenders for prizes, versus ‘pacesetting,’ which is
aimed at non-contenders. Pacing is only allowed when
officially sanctioned by athletics officials (national or
provincial), while pacesetting is allowed as long as the
race organiser has approved it.
If you would like to know more about becoming a pace setter, you can contact
your nearest pace setting organisation via one of these Facebook groups:
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ISSUE 119 JUNE 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
Western Province Pace Setters
https://www.facebook.com/groups/314436651950192
Gauteng Pace Setters (GPS)
https://www.facebook.com/Gauteng-Pace-Setters-GPS-1205368806168863
Kwazulu Natal Pace Setters (KZNPS)
https://www.facebook.com/Kwazulu-Natal-Pace-Setters-KZNPS-225009847902692/
On Sunday 9 June, the 94th Comrades Marathon will once again see thousands
of runners take on the Ultimate Human Race, with all those runners hoping to
make it all the way from Durban up to Piermaritzburg to claim that coveted
medal. And once again, many of those Comrades hopefuls will be relying on
the Modern Athlete Comrades Marathon Pacesetters, brought to you by
Bonitas, to get them home on time.
The 2019 Comrades Marathon sees Bonitas join forces with Modern Athlete
and the various provincial pacesetting organisations to bring you the official
Comrades Pacesetters. Bonitas has been a proud key sponsor of the Comrades
Marathon for over a decade, and this year sees us extend our vision to ensure that
all the runners are supported from start to finish through our various initiatives.
The pacesetters will ensure that we fulfil this vision, as they will be encouraging
and supporting runners to complete the race.