Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 141, May 2021 May 2021 | Page 13

In April , former Comrades Marathon winner Ann Ashworth literally dived in at the deep end when she tackled her first technical trail race at the Ultra-Trail Drakensberg , and in spite of a few challenges posed by altitude , nutrition , gear and navigation , and running the longest race of her life – plus keeping husband David chatting – she ended up winning the race in a new course record . Now , even though the 2022 Comrades Marathon remains her priority , she says she is planning to tackle some more trails .
– BY SEAN FALCONER
Ann celebrates as she wins the 2016 Comrades Marathon
12:59 , setting a new women ’ s record , with our sense of humour and our marriage intact … subject to the proviso that I never , ever enter David into a 100km race again !”
( For the record , Ann finished seventh overall in 12:59:43 , taking seven minutes off Nicolette Griffioen ’ s 2019 record time , although that was run on a different course .)
Seemed Like a Good Idea
There ’ s a bit of a story behind Ann and David ending up running the UTD , involving a comeback from injury , regaining confidence , trying something new and a desperate desire to race again . “ I like to run for sanity and physical wellbeing , but there had been no races of late because of the COVID-induced shutdown of road running throughout South Africa , particularly the longer distances I like to run , so trail running seemed a good idea , since they at least had some races taking place ,” explains Ann . and had to sit down at the top – and there were some technical sections that I simply had to walk .”
“ At halfway , we ’ d already been running for six and a half hours , and I complained that if this was Comrades , I would be finished already ! By the time we had the last 5km to do , it was getting dark , and that was the most technical part of the course , so we were really struggling . I had told David our target was a sub-13-hour finish in daylight , so when he took out his headlamp , I told him , no , we ’ re not admitting defeat , we ’ re going to keep running without a light !”
Having been overtaken by those two women , Ann says she was most surprised to see a winner ’ s banner being held up at the finish line as she and David ran in . “ I said to David , did one of us win the veteran section ? Then we found out the two women who passed me were running the 35km , and I had won the 100km after all ! It was hard , it hurt a lot , and it felt like I needed eight new toenails by the end . Also , as a roadie , show me anything vaguely technical and I grind to a halt … but I got to spend the whole day doing my most favourite thing , running , with my most favourite person , and we finished in the top 10 in
“ I had originally planned to go race the JFK 50-miler road race in the USA this year , but those plans had to be cancelled due to COVID restrictions . Then I received an invitation to run Ultra-Trail Cape Town at the end of the year , and after overcoming my fear of getting lost in the mountains , I accepted … but I thought it may make sense to UTD first to get started on trail . I actually wanted to run the 65km , but when I heard that entries were sold out , I thought maybe I should just try the 100km . I asked a friend who had done it before , who said I would enjoy it , and that I could walk parts , so I decided to go for it , and entered my husband as well . When I mailed him the details , he phoned me and asked if I am crazy , but it became a bit of a joke between us .”
She openly admits that she was not in top racing form for the UTD , having struggled with an Achilles injury since December . “ It was too painful to do speedwork , or high-intensity work , but I could do long and slow running , with a lot of cross-training and building up my cardio base , so I thought that since trail is not as fast as road , it will keep me motivated and inspired , something to work for . But to be honest , I had no idea what I was letting myself in for , and didn ’ t know
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