Our Modern Athlete Brand Ambassador ’ s Blog
KALMER ’ S
I
know many don ’ t like it when the alarm goes off early in the morning , but I always remind myself , “ It is a privilege waking up and traveling to a race at 4am .” That is how I tried to downplay the situation when I told my sister , Christine , that I was picking her up at 4:30am to travel to Benoni for the Johnson Crane 10km . “ Eish , that is very early for a 10km ,” was her response .
It is great having road races back , and what is even better is to have my sister back at my side at races . Christine joined me on the amazing journey called motherhood some seven months ago , when she gave birth to their son , Reuben . Now she is easing back into the running scene , while juggling being a new mom and working fulltime .
A Late Start …
Talking about motherhood , we had one of those evenings with Ivan waking up the whole household and part of the neighbourhood from midnight till 3am on the morning of the Johnson Crane . Somehow , I managed to fall asleep again , only to wake up at 4:30am . If it wasn ’ t for Christine waiting for her lift , I probably would have rolled over and forgotten about the race . Luckily , I had packed all my racing kit the evening before and just grabbed the bundle of racing essentials and jumped in the car with a cup of coffee and a bowl of Future Life ‘ to go .’ The only thing that stayed behind was my energy drink , still in the fridge . Fortunately , I found a missing Maurten Gel in my backpack that I used before the start of the 10km .
The competition in the 10km was not that strong , and the only familiar face I spotted on the start line was Nicole van der Merwe , who took the lead from the
CORNER kalmer ’ s corner by RENÉ KALMER
A Privilege to Race
With races coming back and my racing legs coming back into form , it has been great to get back into racing mode in recent weeks .
start . It was not the plan , but I then took the lead at the 5km mark . It felt good to lead the race for the next 4.8km with the “ First Female ” leading bike , but hats off to Nicole for not giving up and fighting back . She claimed back the lead with 200m to go and crossed the finish line first . I was more than happy with my second place in a time of 38:15 , especially considering the sleepless night , and it was great to see Christine finish third and share the podium with her once again .
Trying New Routes
It is not only good to have our old favourite races back on the calendar , but it is exciting to see new races on the calendar , too . In celebration of International Women ’ s Day on the 8th of March , the Motsepe Foundation hosted the Race to Equality 21km , 10km and 5km at Marks Park . This was also the CGA 10km and 21km Championships . With impressive prizemoney up for grabs , the race attracted not only the top SA runners , but also runners from Lesotho , Kenya and Zimbabwe .
The women ’ s 21km was won by Neheng Khatala , a 2021 Olympian from Lesotho , followed by Shelmith Moriuk from Kenya and then my Murray & Roberts teammate , Adele Broodryk , in an impressive third . It was an all-yellow veteran ’ s podium for Murray & Roberts with Jeannie Henderson winning the provincial title , followed by Charné Bosman in second and myself in third . It was a very hilly , but well-organised race , and it was special running past some iconic Joburg landmarks , like the Westcliff Stairs , Constitution Hill and the Nelson Mandela Bridge . I had the best support on-route , with some of the former girls from the Vorentoe Running Academy manning one of the water points close to the SABC . Later , Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe announced the Motsepe Foundation ’ s commitment and support for an even better race next year , with double the prize money .
Images : Courtesy René Kalmer
Lacing up my adidas Adios Pro 2 ’ s for the first time at a race
Another new race that I became very excited about is the Beyers Greenstone 5k and 8km Fun Run on 27 March , where all the finishers get a chocolate medal . They had me at chocolate medal !
The awesome feeling of finishing on the podium again !
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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