Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 126, January 2020 | Page 41

MULTISPORT
challenge, and that’s how he arrived at the idea to
attempt the pinnacle swim, the English Channel.
And since he lives near Cape Town, the 7.6km swim
between Robben Island and Big Bay seemed a good
place to start. “I saw it as a stepping stone to the
Channel, because you get similarly cold, rough water,
so I entered the Freedom Swim in April 2015.”
I was
still sitting
there, trying
to analyse the
problem, when an
‘Oomie’ came up to me and said,
‘Don’t worry, boet, the bailers’ bus is coming nou-nou.’
I was not going to get into that bus, and that’s where
my Comrades started. I did some calculations, realised
I just needed to run 150 steps, then walk 50, and I
managed to shuffle the rest of the way by sticking to
this game-plan. It was like a filing system in my brain,
opening a new file to deal with the next increment, then
shutting that file and starting a new one. Also, I had
a 10-second rule... I would allow myself to bitch and
moan, then by the time I count to 10, I must get over it.
ultras. To date, he has run more than 70 marathons,
and completed the Two Oceans Marathon seven
times and the Comrades six times. “Comrades and
Oceans are my bigger runs, but overall I just enjoy my
running, and the camaraderie of the sport,” he says.
The Ironman has also featured prominently in
Howard’s sporting life. “I got into triathlons about
19 years ago, starting with the normal sprint and
standard distance events. I enjoyed it, even the
pushing and shoving at the start of the swim, but
always felt at the finish I needed a bit more, that I
could do it all again. Then I heard about Ironman, with
its 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42km run, and felt
that would be a good challenge, so in 2007 I did my
first Ironman in PE, and I’ve now done seven, with the
next one lined up this year.”
Howard crossed the line in 11:53:50, and says he
actually felt on top of the world in spite of the tough
day on the road and running his slowest Comrades
time. “I had always suffered in Comrades, but that
was my best one. That was where I learnt a lot about
myself. I know it sounds like a clique, but I realised
what I can do if I applied my mind to it. The question I
asked myself over and over is how badly do you want
this, and that got me through it.”
Time for Swimming
It was around this same time that Howard began
brewing another idea in his head, having decided
he would like to take on a long distance swimming
“The water temperature that day was about 13
degrees, so we were told that novices were not allowed
to swim solo, but had to do it in relay teams of three
instead, swimming half hour shifts each. Many people
do relays on both Robben Island and the Channel, just
to get a feel for it, but I wasn’t happy about the relay
idea. Even though I wasn’t sure how I would cope with
the cold conditions, I wanted to do the whole thing
myself, so I got into the water first for my team and
after my first shift, I simply told them I wasn’t getting
out, and they were welcome to join me!”
Back then Howard weighed 73 kilograms and
describes himself as a typical skinny triathlete, so
he suffered terribly in the cold, which slowed him
down. “It took me three hours to finish, and I was
taken straight to the medical tent, because I was
hypothermic. Still, that swim had a profound effect on
me. Even though I hit rock bottom after experiencing
the freezing water, and the effect on my sinuses, and
more, I took my medal home, fired up. I knew it may
take a few years, but I was going to do this!”
Ready to Step Up
Howard returned for a second Freedom Swim in 2016,
then a third in 2017, and now felt the time was right
to go after the Channel. “There is a massive demand
for slots in the Channel, so I initially thought I would
only get a slot in 2020, but with all my nagging they
eventually gave me a slot in early July 2018. That’s
right at the beginning of the swim season, when
conditions in the Channel are usually not great, but I
didn’t want to wait till 2020!”
This meant Howard now had just over a year to
train for an incredibly tough swim that would be at
minimum five times longer than the 7.6km maximum
he had done thus far, so he threw himself into his
training. Some of this was done in pools at gyms,
but he says that was not always possible. “We were
Of course, doing Ironman and Comrades in the
same year meant that Howard quite often lined up at
Comrades still feeling the effects of the triathlon, and
that’s what led to his tough experience at the 2015
Comrades, which would pay off so well during his
Channel swim. “I was only 10km into that Comrades
when I realised there was a problem. It felt like my
legs just didn’t have it, but I pushed on. At 30km,
I felt even more depleted, and didn’t know how I
could continue, so a few hundred metres after the
waterpoint at 37km, on a climb, I just sat down – for
the first time in my Comrades career.”
“Thanks to all my years of ultra challenges, I knew I
just had to get my brain to ignite the desire again and
override the fatigue and broken down muscles. But
One of Howard’s many
Robben Island crossings
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