Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 59, June 2014 | Page 18

My Story

Road 2 Comrades:
An Ode to Coach Laurie

Derryn an

Last year Laurie Lewis suffered
a great personal loss just before
the Comrades Marathon, and had
a really difficult run as a result,
but this year he has coached and
motivated a team of 18 runners to
the 2014 ‘Big C,’ and we want to
say a huge thank you.
– BY DERRYN SHORT

O

ur journey started this year, runners
congregating at Virgin Active in Roodepoort
to take advantage of the treacherous hills of
Weltevreden Park. It’s a daunting task getting
18 runners of different abilities in sync with each
other – but not for Laurie! He believes in us so
strongly that he put two training programmes
together, one for the speedy Bill Rowan
candidates as well as a Bronze programme for
the endurance bunnies. After a few weeks, the
strongest connection of camaraderie became
part of our Road 2 Comrades family. We’re
always sharing a race, pushing each other up a
hill and celebrating as each of us qualified for
our 89km pilgrimage on 1 June.
We always talk about what we had to do to
get there, but what we don’t talk about often
enough is the support. Laurie is a hero that’s
assisted a team of novices and experienced

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runners alike to live out their Comrades
dream, but he’s travelled a tragic road.
You see, he lost his son, Chad, in a motor
accident just before the 2013 Comrades. It
was Laurie’s dream to run Comrades with
his son, supporting each other on the route
and crossing the line hand in hand, but last
year, Laurie ran the gruelling 89km in Chad’s
memory, and I will never forge H[