Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 59, June 2014 | Page 32

My Goal

Well known TV personality Arnie Geerdts has set his
sights on doing something that only Bruce Fordyce and
a small group of runners around the world have ever
done. – BY SEAN FALCONER

M

any people in this country instantly recognise Arnie Geerdts thanks
to his prominent role on television. He made his debut in 1984 as a sports
presenter on the News at Eight, and today he anchors a variety of shows
on DStv’s SuperSport channels. He is also a former newspaper journalist,
running magazine editor, radio presenter and two-time winner of the SAB
Sports Journalist of the Year Merit Award. However, few people know that
Arnie is trying to join a highly select running club.
“I came upon it by chance and didn’t realise it was such a big thing, but I
am looking for another sub-3:00 marathon in five different decades, having

Arnie has 11
Comrades
medals to hi
s name.

run my first one in 1979 in Sasolburg, aged 17. I’ve run 50 over the
years, and another one now would make me the second South African
after Bruce Fordyce to do it, and only the 35th person in the world. From
a South African perspective, Vladimir Kotov is also on the list, which
I learnt about when reading the foreword of Budd Coates’ Running
on Air. Budd is one of the few to have done it, and I realised it was
something that I could also do.”

SO CLOSE…

Arnie was hoping to break three hours in Boston in April, but he clocked
3:11 and will have to look for another fast course to go after that
sub-three. Despite falling short this time, he definitely has the running
pedigree to do it: He set his marathon PB of 2:29:31 at the SA Champs
in 1984, ranking him 87th in the country that year, and amongst his 11
Comrades medals are three silvers and a best time of 7:19:35. He was
also part of great friend Bruce Fordyce’s training group in the years that
Bruce was dominating the ultra.
When asked about the longevity of his running
career, Arnie says it is thanks to his golden
rules: “Twice a week I stay off-road
completely, hitting the trails instead, and
I never run two consecutive days in the
same pair of shoes. Also, I never run two
repetitions on the track in the same
direction, because if you always run
the same way, the one side of your
body works harder and other side
learns to become a little lazy. I’ve
done that now for 40 years.”
Besides the sub-three, Arnie
says he still has other
running goals. “Bruce
and I have made a pact
that we will run the 90th
Comrades together in
2015, and then the 100th
– we’ll both be running
with Zimmer frames, but
we’ll get there! Then, if I
can become number 35 in
the world to do a sub-three
in five different decades,
what are the chances of
doing it in six? It will take a
lot of hard work and looking
after myself, but I think I could
do it.”

30

ISSUE 59 JUNE 2014 / www.modernathlete.co.za

Arnie as we know
him... talking up a
storm.

Images: Jetline Action Photo &
Cherie Vale/Newsport Media

-three
Sub
in Five