Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 120, July 2019 | Page 26

ROAD RUNNING
The flowing hair that is Camille’s trademark
face, because when I crossed the line, it felt like I
had reached my number one goal in life. Those are
the moments that you live for, but yeah, I did have
a pretty memorable finish, because I stopped at the
wrong place! I didn’t realise it, even though everybody
was screaming for me to keep going, until finally, a
male competitor behind me tapped my shoulder and
pointed, and then I went into mad sprint. I’m sure it’s
a pretty unforgettable memory not only for me, but for
everybody watching!
MA: On a related note, have you ever stayed at
the Comrades finish to watch the 12-hour cut-off?
CH: Yeah, actually we hung around as long as we
I also want to come back next year and run Two
Oceans again, because I want to finish in the top
10 and be honoured on the podium. In 2013 it was
actually a very disappointing performance for me,
because I finished 11 th and missed the podium
and gold medals. I ended up getting bumped up
to 10th place, because the first woman tested
positive for steroids, so Two Oceans ended up
paying me the prize money, but I never got my gold
medal. Thankfully, this year at the Comrades Expo,
they honoured me with my medal. We had a nice
presentation with Bruce Fordyce and the Two Oceans
team, so I feel a sense of peace and closure, and
I’m very grateful that they were able to do that. I’ll
be displaying that medal beside my Comrades gold
medal.
MA: So what’s next on the agenda – after the
sightseeing and beer tasting in Cape Town, of
course?
CH: I had a couple of races planned after
Comrades, including the Western States and Leadville
trail races, but I didn’t expect my hamstring to get
injured like this. I have to put my health first, so we’ll
see about them. I’m actually qualified to represent the
American team at the 24-hour World Championships
in October in France, so I might have to think more
long-term in terms of being ready for that. I’m not just
one of the best women in the world over 24-hours,
I’m one of the best overall in the world. I think I was
ranked fourth or fifth in the world last year with my
world record performance, so I definitely feel pretty
motivated for the World Champs. I feel inspired, and
compelled, to see how high I can go for 24 hours
trying to compete with the top men in the world.
MA: Bit of a loaded question... if running for
24 hours is your actual strongest point, then is
Comrades actually easy by comparison?
CH: Yeah, it’s actually funny, because I remember
26
when I first got into the Comrades, it was really hard
to wrap my head around running that far... and with
that much climbing and downhill, too! Now I’ve gone
so much further than that, which made it all the harder
to drop out this year. I was thinking, “but I’ve only got
35 kilometres to go,” so it was hard to stop, knowing
it wasn’t a very far distance to go, and that mentally I
could do it easily.
MA: Before we started the interview, you and
Connor both mentioned something about being
interested in the scientific side of running...
CH: My day job is actually in research, and I’ve been
working full time for five years, but I’m currently on a
sabbatical from my job. I had a really bad car accident
in January that led me to reassess my profession and
my running, and I decided to focus on my running for
the moment. We’ve gotten into private coaching as
well, so we’re pretty busy with that, and we’re putting
on a camp this summer. Other than that, we’re going
out to Colorado to hang out for the summer and enjoy
the mountains, we have two German Shepherds that
are just as crazy as I am about running, and we’re
going to brew some beer. We love our beer!
MA: Last question, because we’re landing soon...
Are you excited about coming back for a go at the
Comrades Down Run?
CH: I’m just so inspired, because all the joy and
inspiration that I’ve gotten from coming back to
Comrades this year, makes me want to do whatever I
can to come back and to try and make my next dream
come true, to win the Down Run. I mean, I’m 37 years
old, and I know I’ve only got a limited time left to be at
my best – and Comrades is one of those races where
you’ve got to be at your best to win. Plus it’s getting
more competitive. For me, it’s all about being healthy,
that’s most important, but I definitely want to come
back and try for another Comrades win.
MA: Getting back to Comrades, what do you
remember most about your win in 2017?
CH: When I won it, I was actually coming back
from a knee injury in mid-March, so I had to rest for
two weeks and then didn’t start running until April.
So I had a very emotional, physically hard build-up
to the race, and when I went into the race, I felt like
I had worked so hard, that I had so much emotion,
energy and enthusiasm, and that’s what really helped
to propel me up the major climbs. And I’ve gotta give
credit to my husband, because he had a Jack Black
beer ready for me a couple times in those last 30
kays.
They say that if you reach the top of Polly Shortts
in first place, that you’re pretty much guaranteed
to win, so when I reached the top of that hill, I was
overwhelmed with joy, knowing that all I had was a
downhill to the finish, and that I was going to win.
Those last 10 kays were the thrill of a lifetime. I
mean, you can just see it by the expression on my
ISSUE 120 JULY 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
A helping hand from husband Connor at the
finish in 2017
a couple of days in Cape Town. Back home we brew
our own beer, and we really like the Jack Black beer
here in South Africa. They even delivered a case of
beer to me in Durban, and we’re finally going to go
visit the actual brewery.
could this year, till about 11 and a half hours, but
then we realised that the traffic was probably going
to be pretty bad and decided to get going. We were
following online, though, and I saw videos from my
teammates who did stick around for the finish. I can
appreciate that it’s such an emotional thing for people
that sneak in under 12 hours and to get their medal
and their finish. I mean, it’s quite the journey for the
people that are out there all day for 12 hours, which
I know because I also have a 12-hour world record,
and that’s a really, really long time to be out there for
anybody. So I believe I know what it took for them to
get to that finish line.