First Winner of the Peninsula
When the wind doesn ’ t blow , fast times are on offer at the Peninsula Marathon . The race brands itself as “ The Fastest Marathon in Africa ” – it ’ s not actually the fastest , but it does have a long history of fast times , going all the way back to the first event in 1964 , when all 13 finishers completed the route in under three hours . Later , in 1983 , Bernard Rose equalled the national record with a 2:12:10 , while the current men ’ s course record is held by Ernest Tjela ( 2:11:47 in 1987 ), and the women ’ s record is Monica Drӧgemӧller ’ s 2:37:19 , run in 1990 .
Getting back to 1964 , that inaugural Peninsula was won by 18-year-old David Wassung in 2:27:28 , and I chatted to Dave about his memories of that first race . He recalled Oelof Vorster , the reigning South Africa Marathon Champion , being about 800m ahead with six kilometres to go . Dave thought he saw Oelof slowing slightly on the short , sharp climb as you leave Fish Hoek and a spectator informed him that the leader was asking how far back the second runner was . Like a great white shark in the adjacent Atlantic , Dave smelt blood , gritted his teeth and hungrily went into attack mode , and with three kilometres to go he reeled Oelof in and powered through to the Simon ’ s Town Naval Base for the victory .
However , when word got around about Dave ’ s winning time , it was met with scepticism and the general consensus was that it must have been a short course . After all , the young Celtic Harriers Club Captain had made a name for himself as a crosscountry runner , and was a marathon debutant at Peninsula . Dave was having none of it , though . He got hold of a measuring wheel and ran the same route again the following day , with a group of provincial athletics officials to confirm that he ’ d completed exactly 26 miles and 385 yards . ( They hadn ’ t upgraded to the
metric system back then .) So , while wind is usually a factor at the Peninsula , it was Dave ’ s second wind that was the deciding factor on the day .
Sidenote : After finishing first in his first marathon , Dave Wassung finished second in his second marathon ( behind Willie Olivier , in the 1965 Peninsula ), before reclaiming the Peninsula title with his third marathon , in a new course record of 2:26:41 in 1966 . The hazard of potholes have already been mentioned in this article ... Sadly , Dave broke his ankle after stepping into a pothole whilst running , which ended his competitive running career .
“ Ashes to ashes , dust to dust ” applies to marriage , trains and historic buildings in the Western Cape . Thought I ’ d better get a shot of Cape Town City Hall in case it ’ s gone up in smoke the next time I run past
As a kid , I can remember being dragged out of bed and driven to the bottom of Tokai Road to support my father during the Peninsula . He completed the race over 10 times to earn a permanent number . A story I have been told on countless occasions ( and now get to repeat for this article ) is about the advice he received from Celtic Harriers Club Captain Alastair Walker to counter the wind : “ Find the biggest chap you can and tuck yourself in behind him .” Fortunately for the Old Mann , Morné du Plessis was running that year , and the bulk of former Springbok captain provided a very effective windbreak !
This year there were a few out of town ‘ plates ’ mixed up amongst the WPA licenses and I immediately bumped into a couple of them , Marc and Michelle from Hillcrest Villagers in KZN . I had a head start on them , having been given a first batch bib , but it wasn ’ t long before they caught me up . I decided to do some speed work and enjoyed a few kilometres of conversation before I switched my fuel tank back to economy mode and let them disappear into the distance . After that , my cousin-in-law Jo caught me up , and I caught up on the family news before she too disappeared into the distance .
Something to Bemoan
Although the first hour is run in the dark , there are plenty of streetlights and it ’ s easy running , with Cape Town being the one place in the country where you don ’ t have to worry about disappearing down a pothole . On a related note , I had spent some of the previous day checking out the Cape Town Runners Community Facebook page . From the pre-race conversation on the site , it seems that since Capetonians don ’ t have potholes or incessantly broken traffic lights to moan about , they spend their time complaining about their races instead . The focal grievance ahead of Peninsula was that point-to-point marathons pose insurmountable logistical challenges , a problem further exacerbated since the local Metrorail service was not working that Sunday .
Sidenote : After requests from logistically challenged runners , one year the organisers did put on a special train service to shuttle athletes back to the start after the race . Four people bought tickets .
You can run footloose and fancy-free in Cape Town without worrying about disappearing down a pothole
Images : Courtesy Stuart Mann , Dave Wassung , Two Oceans Marathon , Graham Jones , parkrun SA
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