Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 128, March 2020 | Page 24

THE RUNNING
MANN
By Stuart Mann
Fish Hoek, Line & Sinker
After recovering from a minor leg injury, I was able to belatedly kick off my marathoning year with a trip down to Cape
Town for the stunningly scenic Red Hill Marathon, and discovered the most scenic January marathon on the calendar,
with the friendliest marshals.
Marathon #236 / Unique Marathon #136 / 29 January 2020
a good relationship with the construction company
and this year they had a team working throughout the
night to resurface one part of the route for the runners,
finishing up and providing the clearance to run just 10
minutes before the race started.
The only other exception was in 2008, when a
massive veld fire swept over the area, resulting in
road closures. People joke about building aeroplanes
in the sky, but the Red Hill race committee did just
that, organising a new route on race morning and
only finalising the marathon route after the race had
already started. That 2008 event was something of
a defining moment for the club, and since then the
race medal and club logo were redesigned to include
flames to commemorate the experience.
Slanghoek Lighthouse warns runners of
the ‘dangers’ lurking around the corner
A
Normally, following the extended bout of end-of-year
marathon abstinence, I look forward to mid-January
when I finally get a chance to ‘butter my mielie’ again
in Welkom at the first marathon of the year, the Mielie
Marathon. Unfortunately, the injury meant I had
to wait all the way until the end of January before
‘consummating’ my running year. I did, however, save
my legs for someone special, the Red Hill Marathon in
the south of Cape Town.
Since this was the only January marathon in SA I had
not yet run, I wanted to give myself the best possible
chance to finish the race. Therefore, I spent the
fortnight beforehand enduring as much dry needling,
shock wave therapy and miscellaneous torture
techniques as my pain threshold could endure. I
would at least make it to the start line.
24
No Going Thirsty!
Another sign of things to come…
Unusual Distance
The first Red Hill Classic was run almost half a century
ago in 1973, as a training run for the Peninsula
Marathon. No one could find a suitable short-cut,
so instead of a traditional 20-mile (32km) marathon-
prep course, the distance was set at 36km. In 1984,
when the Two Oceans Marathon introduced qualifying
marathon criteria for their event, a six-kilometre
loop was added for those who wanted to extend
themselves from the 36km Classic to a full marathon
(and both have been permanent fixtures at the race
since 1992).
The route has remained constant over all this time,
save for two exceptions. Firstly, the start line and first
three kilometres have shifted around the perpetual
roadworks to upgrade Kommetjie Road and Ou
Kaapse Weg. However, Fish Hoek AC has built up
ISSUE 128 MARCH 2020 / www.modernathlete.co.za
Upon arrival, I was surprised at just how quiet the
Friday afternoon registration at Fish Hoek Athletic
Club was. People in Cape Town like to make plans
at the last minute and 1,300 of the 2,400 total entries
were sold on race morning (there were about 1,400
entries for the 36km and 1,000 for the marathon).
However, I was even more surprised to find the club
bar was buzzing. After all, I have an early memory of
my father having to bring his own beer to supper at
the Fish Hoek Spur, since it was a “dry suburb.”
You see, back in the early 1800s, the original land
grant stipulated that no alcohol could be sold
anywhere in the area, but apparently a few years ago,
the local sports clubs found a loophole and managed
to get themselves licensed. And after two dry
centuries, an Appeal Tribunal finally granted a liquor
licence to the local Pick n Pay in 2019!
Passing the Early Kays
With the night shift construction crew downing their
fter running like an idiot for most of 2019,
I took things easy with ‘sensible running’
over the festive season. Despite running 34
marathons last year, I ended the year four kilograms
heavier than I was at the end of 2018. In an effort
to curb additional gains to the midriff, I decided to
switch to Lite beer, but I should have heeded the, “If It
aint broke, don’t fix it” mantra. Lite beer and sensible
running are a lethal combination to the serious
marathon runner and resulted in my first injury in over
six years.