Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 122, September 2019 | Page 20

ROAD RUNNING
Dave’s 50
in 50 Dream
For most ultra-runners, tackling the Two Oceans Marathon once a year is more
than enough, but this year Dave Chamberlain tackled the ultra route 50 times
in 50 days in the build-up to the 2019 race. Here is the story behind this incredible
feat. – BY PJ MOSES
So, the last thing you would expect to hear the man
from Pretoria say is, “I don’t actually like running. I
think I might even hate it.” Well, he sure has a funny
way of showing it, given his various running exploits,
but he quickly explains further: “Running is just plain
uncomfortable for me, so I have a strong dislike of
running just for the sake of running. It makes little
sense to me.” However, add a charitable cause to
the run, and then whatever the distance, Dave is
your man!
FOR THE PENGUINS
Thus in March he began his 50-day challenge,
to raise much-needed awareness and funds for
BirdLife SA, with the goal to raise over one hundred
thousand rand to help save the African penguin from
extinction. His daily run along the race course soon
caught the attention of the Cape running community,
and the media, and he was given plenty of support,
sometimes had running company, and did a number
of interviews as well. Naturally, he was asked again
and again why he was doing such a seemingly crazy
thing, and he gave the same answer each time.
“Over the past seven or eight years, I’ve completed
other running projects, but what drew me to this
most recent one was the desire to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of Two Oceans in a way that had local
appeal. Also, I mostly try to run for environmental
causes, and so chose penguin conservation due to
the position that penguins hold, especially from a
tourism perspective and the threat of their extinction.
They are even more endangered than rhinos! All those
times spent birdwatching with my Dad when I was a
kid just made them the obvious choice. Also, I chose
to run for BirdLife SA, because they do amazing work,
even while being under financial pressure to simply
continue being viable,” says Dave.
Calling the campaign 505050 and working in
conjunction with BirdLife and Utopia (who did the
marketing pro bono), Dave started a crowdfunding
campaign and even had a dedicated website where
people could follow his journey on a daily basis,
through vlogs and updated stats. With the logistics
and marketing taken care of, all he needed to do was
concentrate on the running, but a lot more went into
the challenge than just doing 50 kays a day!
PREPARING TO RUN
Initially, all planning for the event went along the lines
of ‘that seems doable,’ says Dave, and he made sure
not to let himself think too much about the distance,
or else it may have become a major stumbling block
to his success. “I’m actually the laziest person I know
– sometimes even too lazy to order Uber Eats. In that
case, I’ll usually just drink two litres of milk for lunch.
So if I did any deeper research, then it might have
scared me off from the idea entirely. Instead, I spent
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ISSUE 122 SEPTEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
W
hen it comes to long distance running,
Dave Chamberlain has done quite some
distance on his feet. In years gone by he
ran the length of Argentina, then ran across Canada,
and followed that up with a run through the Namib
Desert. Then in April this year he undertook his most
recent running adventure, tackling the Two Oceans
Marathon 56km route 50 times in 50 days, including
running the race itself as his 50th ‘Voyage,’ to
celebrate the 50th anniversary of the race in 2019.