MANN the running mann by STUART MANN
THE RUNNING
MANN the running mann by STUART MANN
Up in the Dumps
This year saw the sad demise of an old Joburg favourite , the Jackie Gibson Marathon , but it has been replaced by the new Johannesburg City Marathon , which meant that I had another unique marathon to add to my collection … and plenty of kilometres on the M1 Highway to sing AC / DC lyrics ! Marathon # 263 / Unique Marathon # 159 / 24 March 2024
I
don ’ t run many marathons in Gauteng these days , but when I do , I usually head south for the Soweto Marathon , or the Jackie Gibson . In fact , prior to this race , the last time I ran a Gauteng marathon was two years earlier at the Jackie Gibson , hosted by Johannesburg Harriers ( the oldest running club Gauteng ), and I was keen to see what their inaugural Johannesburg City Marathon had in store .
We were off to a delayed start with the 5:30am start moving to 6am courtesy of loadshedding and stolen streetlights , meaning we had to wait for enough daylight to run safely . A number of northerners also struggled to get to the start as the M1 South , which comprises a large part of the new route , was closed from 3am . Luckily , I had done a last-minute read of the race instructions the night before , and had taken the slightly longer N1 routing to the start .
There was an expectant vibe amongst the runners as we got going with the National Anthem . The first four kilometres are a nice , gentle ( and mostly downhill ) traverse through Kibler Park , but the fun really starts as one takes the onramp to the R82 motorway . The R82 becomes the M1 highway at the 9km mark , but to earn the right to say you ’ ve run on the M1 highway , you need to conquer the toughest hill of the day , a 180m climb over four kilometres .
Hitting the Highway
There is a novelty factor when running on a highway that is completely closed to traffic for the event . However , that novelty does wear off quite quickly for me … I find that one is removed from the detail of everyday life , and there is less to observe than when running on ‘ normal ’ streets . Nevertheless , there were still some interesting sights to see in the distance , including Gold Reef City , the Masjid Siratul Jannah mosque , great views of the city skyline , and regular sightings of mine
Waiting for a dawn start courtesy of loadshedding and stolen streetlights
dumps . Whilst the roads were very clean and pothole-free , we were unfortunately also treated to regular whiffs from actual dumps due to the decaying water and sewerage infrastructure in the metropole .
And before moving on from the topic , the race could really have used some toilets along the route . As many runners noted afterwards , there is very little privacy along the highway . Whilst this was an inaugural marathon , Johannesburg Harriers have more marathon organisation experience than any other club in the country , so I
Images : Stuart Mann
Running past the Masjid Siratul Jannah mosque on the M1 highway 21