More sweaty than a hippo in a hot tub at the 5am City Hall start !
THE RUNNING MANN
C o l u m n was soon riveted by the conversation of three ladies running just in front of me . I have never watched an episode of the Real Housewives of Durban , but if there are any budding producers out there , the ‘ Real Housewives of Hillcrest ’ would be a guaranteed hit , covering hair salon politics and general relationship shenanigans in the greater Hillcrest region . Unfortunately , the chatty trio recognised me , made me swear that everything I had overheard was “ off the record ,” and they then made sure to only talk running when I was within earshot for the rest of the race .
New Beginnings
The Capital City Marathon is a pseudo-replacement for the Maritzburg City Marathon , which had its last run in 2019 . Maritzburg City was a double-lapper and , whilst it does cover some of the same ground , the Capital City Marathon is a single lap race ( which I personally prefer ). Regular readers know that I love my stats and I was surprised at marathon inelasticity ( or the ‘ lack of transferability ’) and how long it takes to build a marathon brand . The Martizburg City Marathon , which John Hall organised for many years , had about 10,000 finishers across all events . The Capital City Marathon has now had four editions , and the most they ’ ve had is 3000 finishers ( in their first year and again this year ).
The half marathoners kept us company over most of the first half , as the route takes one out on a northern loop before returning us close to the finish before the field splits . The half / full marathon split point provides a good mental challenge to the marathon runner , and the guy from Folweni AC in my photo looks like he is regretting his life decisions . I am sure that there are several runners who did a sneaky downgrade at this point , but then they would have missed the “ Dusi dog leg ,’ which I found particularly interesting .
Pietermaritzburg was badly affected in the July 2021 riots , so it was interesting to see the steps that local companies have taken to prevent future looting . I had heard that “ Cash and Carry ” stores in the region are now called “ Dash and Hurry ,” but could find no proof of this . However , I did note that Makro has built what amounts to a fortress around its perimeter , whilst the Discount Hyper uses the Dusi River as a moat to protect itself from stock theft .
The first half tours the north and the second half the south of Pietermaritzburg
I got even more excited when I spotted an SAB sign in the distance . My dehydrated body was still able to go into Pavlovian overload , but my profuse salivations were all for naught as I coped with the devastating disappointment that the SAB sign did
This Folweni runner looks like he ’ s regretting his life decisions just before halfway
“ If New York is the city that never sleeps , Pietermaritzburg is the city that never wakes up . Therefore , it is ironic that Pietermaritzburg races start several hours before any sensible person wakes up . The obvious deduction that one can make from this is that marathon runners lack common sense , and are the only sub-category of humans that would willingly consent to a 5am race start .”
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