Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 124, November 2019 | Page 16

THE RUNNING
MANN
By Stuart Mann
Mind Your Masters
A recent trip to East London for the Tony Viljoen Masters Marathon allowed me to see two inspirational runners in
action. Ryan Guest doesn’t let his medical condition stop him from running marathons, and two marathons a month
keep the doctor away for 84-year-old Caspar Greeff!
(Marathon #223 / Unique Marathon #127 / 1 September 2019)
club mates, Ryan Guest. (As his surname suggests,
he deserves his own guest star role on this blog -
more below.)
We were met at the start by a stiff breeze, but
fortunately it was behind us. So, not only did we have
42 kilometres of delicious downhill to look forward
to, but also a tailwind the whole way (although some
people, including myself, swore that the wind changed
direction towards the end of the race). There was a
record field this year of over 700 runners, and since
I was in no rush, I took my place at the back of the
pack. This turned out to be a good move, since I was
able to meet Goodwill Stoffels in person for the first
time, having chatted with him many times on Twitter.
I normally start a marathon in a good mood, but this
was the first time I started with Goodwill.
However, since running the recent Real Gijimas 50km
in March, the toughest 50km route in the country,
where Jeremy told me I’d “love the easy, downhill
route,” but failed to disclose that the other 80% of
the route is made up of hellish hills, I view his route
descriptions with an extreme degree of scepticism...
but this time he was spot on. I’m happy to go on
record that this is the easiest marathon course I’ve run.
Winning Recipe
East London race organisers tend to follow a simple
tried and true three-step method when plotting a
marathon route:
Step 1: Pick a finish venue.
Step 2: Drive 42.2 kilometres up the N6 highway.
Step 3: Draw a line on the road and start your race
there.
This is exactly what they did for the Tony Viljoen
Masters Marathon. Of course, a point-to-point race
requires some transport logistics. Luckily, Jeremy
secured us a lift to the start with one of his Born2Run
Marathon routes in
East London tend to
stick to the N6
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ISSUE 124 NOVEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
Enjoying the sunrise whilst Jeremy pointed
out the places where he’d vomited...
Guest,
M
y friend Jeremy ‘School of Hard’ Knox is a
regular guest on my blog, and I can always
rely on him for assistance when running in
East London. In our pre-race comms, he described
the Tony Viljoen Masters route as being “like Buffs, but
easier – because you don’t do the hills at the end of
Buffs.” (The Buffalo Marathon, usually simply referred
to as “Buffs,” is the largest and most well-known
standard marathon in East London, and is a popular
qualifying race because it is a point-to-point mostly
downhill plummet.)