Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 57, April 2014 | Page 10

In the Lead

ty Calls
orial Du
bassad

Am

In a unique and exciting move, Modern Athlete has signed
South Africa’s top female runner, two-time Olympian and
multiple SA Champ Rene Kalmer, as a Brand Ambassador,
and she will be flying the Modern Athlete flag at this year’s
Old Mutual Two Oceans Half Marathon. – BY SEAN FALCONER

O

n 19 April, Rene Kalmer will line up for her seventh Old Mutual Two Oceans
Half Marathon, hoping to win the country’s largest 21km for the third time. She has
also finished as runner-up twice, and in the past four years has never finished lower
than fourth in the women’s field. She should be in great shape for the race, too, as
her training thus far this year has been focussed on the IAAF World Half Marathon
Champs in Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of March – the day this edition went
to print she was boarding the flight to Europe as part of the six-athlete SA team for
these Champs. Thus she has been running 10km and 21km races, including winning
the DisChem Half Marathon in Johannesburg, to get her speed up for the Champs.
However, after that Rene says she will revert to marathon training as she builds up to
running a Big City Marathon later in the year. “I have not yet decided which marathon
I will run, but I would like to run Berlin or Chicago, or perhaps return to Yokohama,
where I set my PB of 2:29:59 in 2011. It has actually felt like I have been loafing so
far this year, because I was not in training for a marathon, but I am feeling fit and
strong, and enjoying being injury-free, so I am ready to step it up now.”
Images: Santie Korf Photography & Courtesy Two Oceans

NEW CHALLENGE

Another thing Rene is looking forward to is her new role as a Brand Ambassador
for Modern Athlete magazine. She will represent the Modern Athlete brand at
various events and activations, will feature in the magazine as a regular contributor,
and will play an integral part in the magazine’s new school and corporate wellness
programme. “To the best of my knowledge it’s the first time ever for a running
magazine to partner with a professional athlete, so it’s exciting to be part of Modern
Athlete’s plans,” she says.
“As a professional athlete, it is all about you and what is best for you, but now I
have the platform to really give back to the sport. This will allow me to do so much
more that just answering people’s Facebook messages! One of the things I am most
looking forward to is the schools programme, given that I used to work as a teacher
and really enjoy coaching young athletes. We want to motivate the kids to start
exercising, and teach them about nutrition, so it will be a long-term involvement with
the schools, and from there we will take it to corporates. I’m really excited about this
new chapter in my running career.”

RENE’S TWO OCEANS TIPS

Having run the Old Mutual Two Oceans Half Marathon six
times, Rene knows a thing or two about what to expect from
your first run.