Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 54, January 2014 | Page 15

Balancing Act

Images: Courtesy Alae Brand

Being a top runner, cyclist and
triathlete and being confined to a
ship can’t be easy, but Alae Brand
is managing to keep fit – and she’s
seeing a bit of the world in the process
– while serving as a ship’s doctor on
cruise liners. – BY SEAN FALCONER

I

n October Alae Brand (28) returned to South Africa
for a short holiday after her first six-month contract
working in the Caribbean, and while here she finished
seventh in the OUTsurance KFM 94.7 Gun Run Half
Marathon in 1:29:08, then clocked 1:28:09 to claim
third in the Voet van Afrika Half Marathon (a race she
has won twice). Not quite up there around her PB of
1:19:50, but not bad at all after just about no proper
training for six months on a ship that offers only a
gym with treadmills, a short 200m circular running
track, and splash pools… but Alae still manages to fit
in keeping fit.
“I’ve always had the opinion that where there’s a will,
there’s a way. Even during medical studies, when I
had little time for myself, I still trained in the early
mornings before class. While I never thought I would
ever be able to run more than 5km on a treadmill, I’m
doing it on the ship… but I go crazy running around in
circles on the ships’ mini track, so on my days off, I try
to go running on land. I also do Pilates, and I swim in
the sea when we’re docked in ports.”

LIFE ON THE OCEAN
Alae studied medicine at Stellenbosch University,
then went to PE to do her Community Service year,
where she met a fellow doctor who had worked on
the ships. “I have always wanted to travel, so I asked
her to put me in contact with the people who recruit
doctors for the ships, and I was signed up by Carnival,
the biggest cruise line with 24 ships. Normally you
go into a bigger ship with two doctors on your first
cruise, and start as junior doctor to learn the ropes,
but fortunately Carnival had enough confidence in my
clinical knowledge and skill to start me on a onedoctor ship.”

She says the medical team have to know how to deal
with medical emergencies, medical outbreaks and
disaster situations, such as bomb explosions, natural
disasters or collisions, and they have monthly drills
for both medical and general emergencies. “Ship’s
medicine is totally different to medicine on land,
because we have a limited amount of drugs and
we just have the basic things like X-ray, portable
ventilator, cardiac monitors, and we can do basic
blood tests, but we cannot do CT or MRI
scans, ultrasound or other blood tests.
The company has put ultra-sound in
some ships, so we can check for
appendicitis, etc, but most ships still
rely on clinical diagnosis. That said, we
can contact the medical ops manager
any time, plus we can get a helivac, or the
ship can turn around or speed up in case of
emergency.”
“It can be hard to do everything on your own,
and if things go south, it’s just me and three
nurses. I’m literally on call 24/7, and always have
a phone and a radio on me for emergency calls.
And with the typical passenger, everything is an
emergency! Luckily the nurses are well qualified and
can handle much of the first aid, but for prescription
of medication, procedures like suturing, and for guest
accidents like falls next to the pools, the doctor needs to
see the patient, including crew members.”

STAR ATHLETE
At school Alae did gymnastics, earning provincial
colours and ending sixth at the SA Champs, but at 16
she changed her focus to athletics. In her matric year
she finished seventh at the Schools’ Cross Country
Champs, then at varsity she earned Western Province

colours on road and in cross country. In
2008 she took up cycling to help with an
ongoing hip injury, which led to duathlon,
and she duly won the under-23 age group
at the SA Champs and represented SA in
the World Champs in Italy. In 2011 she
was second at the SA Duathlon Champs
and once again went to the World Champs
(in Spain), then in 2012 she won the
Eastern Province Road Cycling Champs,
the Eastern Province Duathlon Champs as
well as the Big 5 Challenge in Knysna.
Looking ahead, Alae say she wants to move into
more trail running and multisport events, and
also wants to get into paddling, but in the next
18 months she has signed up for various cruises
in the Caribbean as well to Australia, Alaska and
Hawaii. “After that, it will depend on how long I
can keep up this lifestyle. I think I will miss training
and competitive sport too much to do this too
long!”

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