C o l u m n
THE RUNNING MANN do anything special to celebrate your silver this year , or in 2022 , for that matter ?” His simple answer – which I cannot fault , as I would have done the same thing – was , “ Not really , I just drank a lot .”
( Sidenote : I did enquire whether de la Port actually drinks port , and this seems to be a hard no . “ Only if all the other alcohol is finished .” Meanwhile , you may be wondering whether our protagonist ’ s parents had a particular fondness for Swiss chocolate , but his first name originates from his mother ’ s maiden name , Lindhout . Ironically , Lindt works in the sugar industry , but when he ’ s not drinking beer , or tequila and tonic , he saves the sugar for his clients , and keeps his weight in check with a Coke Zero .)
Lindt De La Port comes home for his silver medal at Comrades 2024
fastest marathon time over the last calendar year was a 3:24 , but he ran a solid 3:53 at the BNAC 48k ultra to secure a B seeding . He knew that everything needed to go perfectly on 9 June , and fortunately it did . Lindt cruised home in 7:29:50 , to earn his second silver with 10 seconds to spare . According to his running friends , “ Lindt is a sucker for quotes ,” so I guess this run could best be summed up as , “ I love it when a plan comes together .” ( Those old enough to remember television ’ s The A-Team of the 1980s will nod their heads knowingly here .)
I did some analysis on negative split silvers , and found that there were 14 in this year ’ s Comrades . ( I don ’ t have historic stats to check , but I think this is quite high .) What I do know is that going through Drummond over 3:50 and getting a silver is very rare – I have only found one person doing this before – but there were six this year , including one woman . ( Sidenote : I would be keen to know if anyone has gone through Drummond slower than 3:55:40 and earned a silver . I only have full split records from 2019 ( when the ‘ slowest Drummond silver ’ was 3:46 ) and no-one has come close since then . Mark Dowdeswell has also checked his records , and noone has gone through Drummond slower than 3:54 to earn silver since 2007 .)
It ’ s a Dog ’ s Life …
Speaking of A-teams , Lindt now runs for Die Vuilhonde ( The Dirty Dogs ), a running club that grew out of a social running group that bonded during the COVID period , and decided to make it official by registering as a running club in Gauteng North . The club ’ s name is a literal derivation from the dust and grime that they would return home with after a long trail run .
The club has just under 100 members , 24 of whom participated in this year ’ s Comrades , and they secured an impressive 100 % medal count , with an average finishing time of 8:55 . The ‘ top dog ’ at the club is undoubtedly Lindt ’ s training partner , Yolande Maclean , who claimed club honours with a 6:54:57 finish and added another Isavel Roche-Kelly medal to her impressive medal collection , which includes nine golds , the second-highest for a South African woman after Farwa Mentoor .
With results like these , I guess you could say that whilst every dog might have its day , Die Vuilhonde have their day once a year in June . Or perhaps the conventional wisdom that “ If you lie down with dogs , you get up with fleas ” should be changed to “ If you train with the Vuilhonde , you ’ ll end up with PBs !”
Let ’ s Drink to That
So , how does one celebrate after achieving what is probably the biggest negative split of all time at Comrades to earn a silver medal ? Well , I asked Lindt , “ Did you
The good news is that Lindt has shared his detailed race plan and provided meticulous analysis about how to run a silver Comrades , which I will be sharing as a guest blog in the near future . According to another bearded bloke that liked to run , “ Life is like a box of chocolates , you never know what you ’ re going to get .” However , if you follow Lindt ’ s advice , you can plan your next Comrades quest down to the second .
Charl Pienaar ran his first Comrades at the age of 27 in 1984 , for Phobians , finishing in a credible time of 9:29:22 . He line up again in 1985 , but got a dreaded DNF , after which he decided to take a break from Comrades … for 30 years . During this time he moved down to East London , joining Old Selbornians , and the coastal air clearly did him some good over time , as he returned to Comrades in 2015 and 2018 , crossing the line in 10:33:11 and 9:54:18 respectively .
Post-Comrades celebrations with Die Vuilhonde clubmates
40 Years for a PB
However , in the 2024 Comrades , a whole 41 years after his debut , Charl chased down that elusive PB . He managed to achieve this by shaving almost 20 minutes off his previous best time when he crossed the line in 9:09:59 . I wonder if there is anyone else who has taken a longer time to improve on their novice time ? One thing is clear though , it ’ s never too late to become an Old Selborn-again Comrades runner !
About the Author
The Running Mann has run over 250 marathons and ultras around the world , and his mission is to run every marathon in South Africa , while his dream is to get a sponsorship from a beer company , so he can toast all his marathon finishes in style . If you ’ d like him to run your race , or talk at your event or club , email therunningmann @ gmail . com . You can follow all his adventures on his popular Running Mann blog .
Images : Marathon Photos & courtesy Channelle Makhele , Lindt De La Port , Charl Pienaar
22 ISSUE 170 | www . modernathlete . co . za