Pacing the London Marathon in 2012 for the British women . At the time there was one spot left on the Great Britain marathon team . It is tradition for the pacers to wear the black and white uniform , and I had to run 3:30min / km for 20 miles … so once again , I was happy to stop at 32km after a very successful run . In the same race , Irvette qualified for her first Olympic Games in London later that year .
In action in the marathon at the 2012 London Olympic Games , where I finished 35th after clocking 2:30:51 .
I was blessed with the best supporters at the London Olympic Games !
Unfortunately , hubby Andre and my memories from the 2013 Boston Marathon were overshadowed by the tragic bombings at the finish line . We were less than 200m away , having lunch , when the bombs exploded . I want to go back one day , to turn this negative into a positive experience .
Now that ’ s a big post-marathon PB smile ! No wonder Berlin is still my favourite marathon destination , because I set a new PB of 2:29:27 in 2014 .
Running the 2015 Vienna City Marathon in Austria with my sister Christine , where she made her marathon debut and clocked 2:39 . Later that year she went on to qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games by running a massive PB at the Valencia Marathon in Spain .
Here are the ‘ Kalmers en Kêrels ’ on an extraspecial trip to Spain for the 2015 Valencia Marathon with Christine and our hubbies Andre and Aiden . Christine clocked 2:33:43 to qualify for Rio , while it was a first ever international marathon experience for the ‘ kêrels .’ Definitely a bucket list marathon !
About the Author
René Kalmer is a two-time Olympian , having represented SA in the 1500m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and in the marathon at the 2012 London Games . She has also won more than 40 SA titles in track , road and cross country at youth , junior and senior level , in distances from 800m to the half marathon .
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