Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 130, May 2020 | Page 19

LOCKDOWN
Former SA 80’s popstar Jarrod Aston-Assenheim changed his life when he gave up smoking and
drinking, and then began running, and is now fitter, healthier and happier than ever. Still working in
the music industry, he has seen first-hand how the lockdown has affected many musicians, actors
and performing artists, so he decided to tackle a lockdown run in early April to raise funds to help
them. As he was supposed to run the Two Oceans Marathon then, he decided the lockdown run
should be 58km… and he would do it on the balcony of his 13 th story flat in Cape Town!
– BY SEAN FALCONER
One of
the
biggest
hit songs of
the mid-1980s
in South Africa
was a catchy tune
called My Kind of
Girl, by the band
Cinema, with Jarrod
Aston-Assenheim on lead
vocals. Wherever the band
played, they had the crowds
dancing and singing along, and
the song enjoyed wide airtime on both
radio and TV. In fact, it still gets played
on the radio quite often these days, more than
30 years later, says Jarrod, who is still working in the
music business. “I track songs as part of my work,
and it was played about 2500 times across radio
stations in South Africa last year. That’s why we are
still getting royalty cheques for the song!”
Now 53, Jarrod is no longer in the limelight for his
music, but his running did put him in the news again
recently when he decided to do the fund-raising
Indoor Ultra Marathon Challenge. “I’ve been a music
and entertainment professional for 35 years, and I
have seen that the industry has been hit very hard
since all events were cancelled due to the lockdown. I
planned to run my second Two Oceans Ultra this year
on 11 April, and with the event cancelled, I decided
to use the opportunity to run 58km on my balcony in
Sea Point that day to help support the guys and gals
out there that have had their shows cancelled and
incomes lost,” he says.
logged in, and it was great to reminisce with people
I worked with 30 years ago. I even had a chat with a
friend in the USA that works as the lighting director
for AC/DC and Aerosmith, and by the time I looked
up, another 10km was done. I think I was holding the
phone in my left hand and chatting for about three
and a half hours of the run… and didn’t even realise I
was doing it.”
Jarrod crossed his finish line after seven hours and 32
minutes, and he says it was an incredible feeling to
finish. “I think I did about 2500 loops of the balcony,
taking about 72,000 steps, and no matter what the
GPS says, I reckon I actually ran 64km, not 58! You
know, if somebody had said a few years ago that I
would run an ultra on my balcony, I would just have
laughed at them. But it’s like writing a song… you
have to start the process properly, and the more you
do it, the better you get!”
At the time of writing the Challenge had brought in
R28,460, and Jarrod was in the process of distributing
the money to artists and colleagues that needed help,
with the plan to give R1500 to each person. “Sadly,
there are many that need help, which is not possible
unless we raise more funds,” he says. “It doesn’t
sound like much, giving them just R1500 each, but I
really hope we can make people’s lives a bit easier for
at least a couple of weeks. I know I am privileged to
be in a position where my businesses are still running,
and it feels good to be able to give back to this
industry that has given me so much.”
Musical Journey Begins
Jarrod’s success in the world of pop music is actually
quite surprising, given that he grew up listening to
jazz, played the drums in the early part of his musical
career, with only a back-up singing role. “My father,
who is now 90, was a jazz drummer, and only retired
at 80. Jazz was my dream, and I wanted to study at
the Berklee College of Music in the USA, but I ended
up getting into pop bands instead. It started when a
friend at Wits was a DJ and put me in touch with a
band, Face to Face, that was looking for a drummer,
and we had a big hit in 1984 with Here We Are. But I
was still always listening to jazz, and jazz fusion.”
Images: Jetline Action Photo & courtesy Jarrod Aston-Assenheim
“I then challenged two friends to join me, as they are
in the same industry and are also clubmates of mine
at Atlantic Athletic Club here in Cape Town. Stacey
Rethman is a TV producer, while Brandon Moulder is
stage manager for big theatre shows. Stace could do
a garden run in George, where she was staying for the
lockdown, but Brandon’s apartment doesn’t have a
balcony, so he pledged to do cardio work for seven
hours to accompany our runs. Next I set up a Backa-Buddy
campaign page, with a fund-raising target of
R20,000, and asked friends to support us.”
Different Sort of Scenery
Having measured the balcony, Jarrod found that
he had a 25-metre ‘route’ to work with, with a few
bonuses to offset the obvious limitations. “I’ve got a
great balcony that wraps around the apartment, with
great views of Lion’s Head and Signal Hill as well as
the Promenade, so I felt it would be OK, but I had no
idea what I had set myself up for. I started at 5:30am,
had to run through a number of rain showers, and soon
learnt to stop looking at my GPS watch!” says Jarrod.
“What really helped was logging into Facebook Live
and chatting to people during the run. That took my
mind off the monotony of it. A lot of musical friends
19