Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 131, June 2020 June 2020 | Page 6

Have Your SAY Got something on your mind that you want to share, a burning question you want answered, or a good story to tell? Then send it to [email protected], and add a pic if you can. Letters should preferably be no more than 300 words long, and pics must be high-resolution to be usable in print. (Note that letters may be shortened due to space limitations.) EDITOR’S PICK TO FEED THE NEEDY FAMILIES I am a 50-year-old woman who is a gym fanatic and an ultra-runner. I have completed five Comrades Marathons between 2015 to 2019, and have a couple of podium finishes for 10km, 21km and marathons in my age category. During lockdown, I decided to use my God-given talent to raise funds for the People Matter Foundation, which has already served over 4000 families since the lockdown period began. mostly athletes, to donate R30 (R1 per kilometre) per day, or R150 or more once-off to the foundation, to help feed the needy. I posted my yard results on facebook on a daily basis, and at the time of writing this, I am still waiting to hear from the foundation how much was raised during the five days. It fulfils me, just like finishing a race, to know that I raised my hand to help others. – Comfort Selebi, Johannesburg Respect, Comfort, for undertaking this challenge, and for helping needy people in the process. Running 30km five days in a row is one thing, but doing it in Lockdown Loops is a whole different challenge! – Ed. I started my Comfort Run for Food challenge on the 25th and finished on the 29th of April. I was doing 30km yard runs, around my house for five days. My yard route measures just 100m, so I had to do 100 laps around my house to get to 1km. I therefore asked my Facebook friends, who are GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN… That good feeling when you are enjoying your jog and someone says, “Hi Gugs, we were supposed to be running your race today.” Thanks, running family, we love and appreciate you guys. – Sharon Sheshe Ncipa, Cape Town Your Youth Day race has long been a popular event, and I’m looking forward to seeing it back on the Western Cape running calendar in 2021. – Ed. ADVICE ABOUT GROUP RUNS… I would like to please ask your opinion. We would like to run on 14th June and do the Comrades Legends Run, but we would like to run together. There are five of us. We would naturally all run with masks, and we would logically not run abreast, as we would be out on the road, so would worst case be two alongside each other, but would leave a metre between us. Do you think that that would warrant us getting arrested? Especially if we are running in the Cradle and not in the neighbourhood? We would obviously make sure that we wore masks and didn’t have physical contact with one another? Would like to have your opinion. – Desiree Hainsworth, Johannesburg From a safety perspective, I always recommend that runners avoid running alone, especially in isolated areas that may not be safe, but in order to meet the requirements of current social distancing regulations, I suggest runners stay a few metres apart at all times. If running out in the Cradle, you may get away with running as a group, but it is risky to do so. My suggestion is therefore that you run five in a row, several metres apart, to keep each other company and to ensure safety in numbers. The person running in front may feel a bit lonely and isolated, so you could rotate leader. This allows different runners to set the pace, as well. It is harder to have a conversation this way, but at least you won’t get arrested! – Ed. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED… Respect to all the runners that took part in the Comrades Challenge and to the organisers! I did the Pinelands AC 10-day Comrades Challenge, and it was much tougher than I thought, but I thoroughly enjoyed the physical challenge and sense of accomplishment that came with it! I’m reminded that we can do so much more than we give ourselves credit for, but we need to get off our butts to get it done. The last two runs were a bit ‘eina,’ but when you’ve come so far, no blister is going to end the challenge. – Nathan van Rooyen, Cape Town That blister definitely looks ‘eina!’ Well done on your consistency and commitment, Nathan. – Ed. Images: Pexels & courtesy Comfort Selebi, Nathan van Rooyen & Sharon Sheshe Ncipa 6 ISSUE 131 JUNE 2020 / www.modernathlete.co.za