Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 131, June 2020 June 2020 | Page 21

Luke just scrapes in
to qualify in 2016
BACK FOR ROUND TWO
The 2016 down run was an epic! I was in trouble at
30km, with my feet feeling bruised underneath, a
new and unpleasant experience, and my calves were
way to sore for that point in the race. Funny enough,
an orange segment seemed to sort that out, and I
actually found the first 44km relatively easy. This year
there would be no tablets, and no food either, just
Coke and water for me.
The Down Run was so different to the Up in so
many ways that it felt like a completely different
race. The chill of Maritzburg in the morning with the
darkness and mist, and watching the sun rise as we
descended Polly’s and headed towards Lion Park
were memorable. The support seemed to improve
along the route as well, and all was going nicely
until I hit a proper wall at 75km. All of a sudden, the
calculations started… Can I walk it in from here?
I had done this for about five minutes, when once
again who turned up, but Beaumont and Keith.
“How you doing?” they asked. “I’m kaput, my legs
are done.” “OK, stick with us and we’ll get you in.” I
knew this to be true. It was, after all, both were going
for their 20th double laurels, and my Back-to-Back,
so we had to make it.
What happened next felt like the most epic 15km I had
ever run. We seemed to take off sprinting as one of
them would call, “OK, that sign,” and then we would
put foot until we got there. We streamed past people,
three bumblebees in a row, on a mission to the great
hive of Kings Park. My suffering changed, as soon I
was heaving for breath from these sprints, as opposed
to suffering leg pain. It was as if the change of pace,
and running in with two legends competing in what
would be their last run (so they said), completely reenergised
me, and those last kays were proper epic!
HEARTBREAK AT THE
FINISH
On finishing I found Jayde in the stands. He had done
his leg in at 30km and somehow limped the last 60km.
I saw Devon, who had valiantly fought with a cold to
the 70km cut-off. I then looked around for Luke, who
I had assumed had been cut off ages ago. It’s a long
story, but Luke has struggled with injury for months,
and although able to grit and take more punishment
than any runner I know, I couldn’t fathom how he
could still be going, and as such it wasn’t even a
consideration. I asked Gina where he was, and to my
absolute horror heard her say, “He’s at 81.” I was truly
horrified. I couldn’t imagine the state the boy must
have been in, knowing the beating he usually takes on
a standard marathon, let alone this.
The next hour and a half was a terrible mix of emotion
as we tracked his progress, whilst counting down the
minutes. He had time, but in what state was he? In the
end, he ran into the stadium to a standing ovation from
the Fish Hoek supporters, about seven minutes over the
12-hour cut-off. He made the distance, he made the run,
he just missed the time, in what he regards as the best
run of his life, having enjoyed every minute of it.
The following months were a mix of deliberations.
Some of us wanted to take a year off and hit the
2018 Down Run, but having come so close to getting
his medal on his second attempt, Luke was having
none of it and was adamant he was going back
immediately. As such, Jayde and I decided to join him
once again for the dreaded Up Run.
COMRADES 2016
Jayde Brammer 9:56:19
Sean Altern 10:35:17
Luke Altern DNF
Devon Hansen DNF
Sean finishing with Beaumont and Keith
A 2016
post-Comrades pic
BROTHERS IN ARMS
And so for the 2017 run I decided to run with Luke to see
if I could somehow help bring him in. Or at least be with
him whilst we suffered along the road. As Beaumont and
Keith had told me the previous year, “You now know the
way,” so I was hoping I might be able to help him, as
they had helped me previously. My personal Comrades
goal was achieved in 2016 after doing my Back-to-Back
Up and Down. I was also the first in my family to do
the run, and I’m grateful that I got to put a Comrades
finisher’s medal around my Grandpa’s neck. He has
since passed away, just a few weeks before that 2017
race, but whenever I spoke to him, he always asked
about Comrades, and knowing that Luke and I would be
running together, one of the very last things he ever said
to me was, “I’ll be running with you two this year.”
And so, the race. The first 20km were easy, and foolishly
I thought we’re in today, we’ve got this, until going down
Inchanga, when Luke’s legs locked up and he couldn’t
so much as walk, let alone run. We were halfway
there, but moving so slowly, and Luke was in so much
discomfort I considered packing it in. What’s the point in
further suffering, we will come back next year anyway?
But we decided we may as well get as far as we could,
so that we can at least tell those who asked that we got
a decent distance in.
We did manage to find solace in the fact that we were
still upright and moving forward, whereas so many
others lay in a pool of their own vomit on the side of
the road. An American girl asked me whether she was
getting sunburnt, seemingly oblivious to the fact that by
1pm she was the colour of a pink highlighter. I replied,
“Not yet, but you will be.” Of course, there was still the
entire afternoon’s roasting for her to look forward to. The
point is, when we focused on the suffering of others, we
didn’t focus on ourselves as much, and subsequently
felt better. Perhaps a life lesson there!
This worked for a bit as we kept going, and after an
emotional arm-over-the-shoulder pep talk by some
random dude along the route – wish we knew who that
was – and me pulling my last trump card in reminding
Luke whereabout our Grandpa used to live, we seemed
to get a second wind and were trapping along as
hard as we could. Heather gave Luke salt pills, Nicky
provided some inspiration, and we managed to latch
onto the heels of Nebreska and Henry for some added
speed as we headed towards the great wall of Polly’s.
SO CLOSE, AND YET…
In my mind, if we made it up Polly’s that was it, we
would have an hour to do 8km – still a challenge after
doing almost 80 already, but it would be primarily
downhill from there, and with adrenaline going we
should make it. Luke power-walked that hill like a beast,
angry and certain he had seen the 8km sign further
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