ROAD RUNNING
Safety First ,
Bruce and Michelle doing the seaside run on Chappies
Views Second
With most road races cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic , some runners have run actual race routes in order to still get the ‘ feeling ’ of their favourite races . This saw four of us travel to Cape Town to tackle the Two Oceans Marathon route this past Easter , but we found out exactly why the organisers had warned runners not to do so ! – BY DUANE NEWMAN
Cape Town has been one of our favourite places to run for many years , and my wife Sharon and I firmly believe that the Two Oceans Marathon is indeed the most beautiful marathon in the world , after running many other international races in Europe , America and the Far East . So , after running 15 full Two Oceans ( and two half marathons ) each , we were devastated last year when COVID hit and one of the first big casualties on the road running circuit was Two Oceans .
The full team with seconders , from left , Chris , Duane , Sharon , Michelle , Bruce and Grant
We did end up running the 56km a few weeks later on Easter Saturday , as a relay on our patio and treadmill , but the view in Kyalami over the Midrand Hills of Gauteng is just not the same as Cape Town ’ s Chapmans Peak , Noordhoek , etc . Meanwhile , our running club , under the chairmanship of Michelle |
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Duane , Sharon and Michelle , ready to start the run
Acton , did really well to keep us devoted running junkies focused on running and other fitness challenges through the tougher lockdown periods in 2020 .
Then late last year we did come down to Cape Town to run our own virtual Sanlam Cape Town Marathon 21km , to see what it would be like . It was clear that Cape Town had been really hurt by the lockdown , with many establishments closed . That was so sad to see , but we did get to run near the top elite athletes in Sea Point , and we got to do a bit of a semi-normal running event for the first time in a long while .
Cape Town Calling …
By early 2021 it was clear that it would be unlikely that we would be able to run the Two Oceans again in 2021 , so the options would be to have our own virtual 56km run in Midrand , or we could return to Cape Town on Easter Weekend and run our own 56km over the famous route . So , we got this discussion going with Bruce and Michelle Acton , who are also big lovers of Two Oceans , and all four of us decided to go down to Cape Town for our annual pilgrimage . We booked our flights and accommodation as our sign of commitment , then prayed hard that the country would not be locked down over Easter .
The next challenge was deciding on the route , and the logistical issues around running a 56km . Do we run with hydration packs , do we have any seconding along the route , do we run the actual route ( which would have no road closures ), what time do we run ? We are all Blue Number holders , so we thought , how hard can this be ?
However , we then received the warning from Two Oceans themselves not to run the route , when they announced the Virtual Charity Challenge of 10km and 20km . Initially , we were shocked that Two Oceans did not have a virtual 21km or 56km event , as this could
Images : Courtesy Duane Newman
26 ISSUE 140 APRIL 2021 / www . modernathlete . co . za