Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 136, December 2020 Issue 136, December 2020 | Page 18

TRAIL RUNNING
Mo finishes second The Men ’ s top three at prize-giving they had . “ Soon I found myself with just the American youngster , William Hafferty , and he led most of the way , while I sat just behind him . By lap three he was getting a bit too strong for me and I had to let him go , but I saw I was comfortably clear of the next runner , so I just maintained my pace to come home second .”
The runners were provided with two water stations on the 10.5km loop , one at the start point and one at the 5km halfway mark of the loop , with numbered paper cups for each runner . “ You have to stop and find your numbered cup in order to take warm water from an urn , and they also had Coke , fruit and cookies for us . We were asked to try not spill any Coke on the ice , as it needs to be removed to maintain the purity of the environment , and of course , we had to be careful not to spill or splash any water or Coke on our faces , as it would freeze , so we had to stop , fill up , drink carefully , then get going again . It was really dry out there , so I found water every 5km quite long for a marathon , and felt a bit dehydrated ,” says Mo .
In the end , William took the win in 3:34:12 , breaking the course record by 35 seconds , with Mo second in 3:43:12 , followed by another American , Mark Leibold , who was third in 3:58:49 . And this is where Mo says things were also a bit different to normal races . “ They had told us at the briefing that we would go into hypothermia within minutes after finishing if we didn ’ t get warm . They have all the flags of the competitors at the finish , so I grabbed the SA flag , had a few pics taken , and then I hit the shower . The crew in the camp are only allowed to shower once a week , so we were told we could shower after our run . It was a quick
shower – I had to work quickly , or be left with soap after my bucket ran out , but that water was beautifully warm . Then I could get warm clothing on again .”
While the leaders finished in less than four hours , most of the other runners were out there for between five and eight hours , with the longest race time going to two runners , Ludivina Ferrer of the Philippines and 84-year-old Canadian Roy Svenningsen , who finished in 11:41:58 to become the oldest runner to complete a marathon on the continent . Mo says they would come into the mess tent after each lap to get something warm to drink , and the rest of the runners would cheer them on . “ There was a fantastic spirit in the group , and we all went out to cheer them in when they finished around midnight , with hugs all round . Everybody gets treated like a winner at this race .”
Bit of a Media Frenzy
With the race all done and everybody showered , the runners then hung out in their tents or the mess tent , keeping an eye on the notice board listing the weather and flight details of the plane home . “ We were briefed to keep checking boarding plans for the next day , as were told we had to be ready to go as soon as the plane arrived . In the meantime , my tent mate said I could use the last 40 seconds of air time on his phone to call my wife .”
“ She told me they had been following my progress online , as the organisers posted updates on social media after each lap , so not only did my family already know I had finished second , but so did the South African running community . She told me later she was contacted by the media just after my call , and could pass on what I had said ! And that was just the first of many media calls or requests . I had never planned to run in Antarctica , and I had never expected to be on the podium of an international marathon , so the media interest back home really took me by surprise !”
Looking ahead , Mo says that having heard about the Seven Continents , Grand Slam and World Marathon Tour challenges , he is interested to try them as well someday , but adds he is “ not really a bucket list guy .” On the other hand , he does have a goal in mind in the World Marathon Majors , after his running exploits in 2019 . You see , he managed sub-three-hour times in all three that he ran , clocking 2:59 in Boston , 2:57 in Chicago and 2:58 in New York , and now he would like to try run sub-threes in London , Berlin and Tokyo to round out his Marathon Majors collection .
“ When I went sub-three in Boston , I decided it would be cool to run a sub-three in Chicago as well , but due to the late plans to add New York , I had to decide whether to race Chicago and then just survive New York , or use Chicago as a long training run and then race New York , since they were less than a month apart . After I ran 2:57 in Chicago , I was on such a runner ’ s high because the race went so well , so in spite of still feeling jetlagged from Chicago when I got to New York , I just went for it . I must admit , in NY my legs felt a bit flat in the first , but then muscle memory kicked in and hit my rhythm and pace – and that was also the day after we found a bar in New York to watch SA win the Rugby World Cup at 4am US time !”
Images : Courtesy Antarctica Ice Marathon
For more info on the Antarctic Ice Marathon , go to www . icemarathon . com . The next edition of the race will take place on 13 December 2020 . Also , to find out more about Mo ’ s coaching services , check out www . soulrunning . co . za .
18 ISSUE 136 DECEMBER 2020 / www . modernathlete . co . za
Feeling the minus-24 wind chill factor on the final lap