of the Italian Club and next to its neighbouring retirement home , Casa Serena . That would give each runner a tally of 100km as they ran through two sunsets and a sunrise . |
Taps being played for Crom and Paddy |
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At 5:57pm on the 1st of April , a bell was rung at the Italian Club in Bedfordview , Johannesburg , which seemed quite insignificant , but to the 25 individual runners and the 4-member Flightless Eagles team , it signalled the start of a 24-hour run . The Spartan Baby Badass Ultra was the first event of its kind , hosted to raise money for CHOC , with runners setting out to run 4.167km every hour , on the hour , using four different courses , some tougher than others , around the beautiful gardens of Essexwold , through the grounds |
Two days before the start , I had the opportunity to sit down and interview most of the runners . I must admit , I was a bit shocked , as each and every one of them had complete confidence in their abilities , even if , in my mind , some appeared to lack sufficient training for this undertaking . But it was ‘ Warmonger ’ who told me that failing was not an option , and that moment stuck with me . He was running to remember his late wife – a birthday present , he called it . To me , it was an inspiration . |
Reporting for Duty
On ‘ race day ,’ the runners set up their beds in the makeshift ‘ barracks ’ within the old gym at the Italian Club , then donned headlamps and high-visibility
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vests to begin their duel with destiny . Each runner had provided a nickname befitting a Spartan , so there was Sir King Katvis the Great , Albertus The First ( Centurion of the Praetorian Guard ) and Marie ’ Of Troy , to mention just a few . |
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Tiger Claw and Ajax il Guerriero relax between loops |
CrazyHazy , Russian and Seizure tackle another loop |
The night was tough as temperatures turned chilly , and the runners tried to grab quick naps between loops . Some managed 20 minutes or a quick catnap , if they were lucky , but the walkers managed just a few minutes of downtime before the next hourly start beckoned . Still , all the runners managed to keep going until the early hours of Saturday morning , at which point two runners , Crom and Paddy , were disqualified for missing a loop cut-off by 60 seconds .
A few loops later , Overthinkia and Jedi would succumb to the dreaded SBBU cut-off , then Exhaustidis called it quits . The race was picking off
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Images : Courtesy CHOC Cows |