THE RUNNING MANN
C o l u m n
Heat and Hills !
The race is designed as a Comrades / 100-miler training run . You see , Comrades is just a training run for the Washie 100-miler in this part of the world , and the race founder is ‘ one of those people ’ who routinely runs 100-milers . It therefore includes the roughest and toughest hills you can find in and around Gqeberha , on top of the challenge of running in the heat of the day , so that your body can get acclimatised to afternoon running , which is vital training for the Washie .
The only plastic on route were these ‘ saunas ’
We were told to bring our own bottles . Julian opted for a regular store-bought bottle , whilst the environmental aficionados followed the race ’ s recommendation of a collapsible cup ( which range from R20 to over R300 , depending on your budget ). I , of course , opted to bring out the pewter beer mug I got at my 21st birthday for its maiden marathon . I figured that since it would be well into beer-drinking time by the time I finished the marathon , I might as well make the most of the situation and do the next best thing to drinking a beer on the coastline , by drinking one of the four core ingredients of beer out of a quality drinking vessel along the coastline !
It all starts sedately enough , with a gentle decline known as the ‘ Mother-in-law ’ before you head down the ‘ Three Sisters .’ On a windless day in Gqeberha , life was ‘ breezy ’ until the 9km mark , but it ’ s here that you meet Maitlands Hill , which takes you from zero to 100 metres above sea level over two kilometres . However , you are still fresh enough that the climb can be easily negotiated and the reward of a stunning ocean vista can be savoured . After this is 2km back down Maitland Hill , and then 2.5km of flat where the most notable landmark is Barnacles pub and restaurant , where I jealously looked up at the packed veranda of people enjoying some afternoon beers with a sea view .
By this time , it appeared the good people of Gqeberha had lost creativity and run out of imaginative names for their hills , because the next hill , which is at least 6km long , is known as 5K Hill . However , to get to start of said hill , you do have to first run up another nameless hill that is 1km long . So , we did seven kilometres of solid climbing from just 14km to the halfway mark , and it wasn ’ t long before the refreshing sea breeze was replaced by the stifling late afternoon heat .
Now that ’ s what I call a mug shot !
Possibly the most redundant sign ever – for runners anyway – at the start of 5K Hill
At some point on this endless uphill , I thought we ’ d been given a reprieve as we veered right onto a downhill . However , my fellow runners informed me that the only reason for detouring off 5K Hill was so that we could get acquainted with ‘ The Wall .’ There are a few things I ’ ve learned over two decades of running , and one of them is that the name ‘ The Wall ’ is usually reserved for the most vicious hill in a metropole , and actually physically running into a brick wall is usually more fun than running up a hill called ‘ The Wall .’
In hindsight , this was not the most practical option , as I quickly discovered that I cannot even walk and drink water out of that mug without spilling , and I also had bruised knuckles the next day . All the media attention is focussed on the dangers of drinking and driving , but the risk of spillage is far greater if you try to drink and run . Not wanting to write about ‘ The Good Friday Beer Tragedy ,’ I refrained from having anything other than pure H20 in the mug until finishing .
Well , Nelson Mandela Bay ’ s contribution to ‘ The Wall ’ lexicon did not disappoint . I was not actually planning to run up ‘ The Wall ’ until I saw a cyclist struggling up the hill in front of me . With a burst of energy , I surged past the peddler and braggingly offered , “ Do you need a push ?” He replied with something unrepeatable – if we were in Cape Town it , would have been something like “ Jou ma se push ” – but then I couldn ’ t lose face , and realised that I would now actually have to run all the way to the top !
You start the race by going down ‘ Mother-in-law ’ hill
When you chirp a cyclist , and then realise that you have to run all the way to the top of the hill
Images : Stuart Mann , Kayla Potgieter
33