Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 60, July 2014 | Page 17

This year for the first time, Modern Athlete was a
presenting partner alongside the Comrades Marathon
Association at the Official Comrades Marathon Pasta
Party in Durban, and the runners that attended were
treated to a night of inspiration.

Think Pink!
Donning pink and helping the runners to keep going was
all part of the race-day experience for the Modern Athlete
team at the Pink Drive refreshment station.

Images: Lauren van der Vyver & Charlie Bainbridge

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othing gets a Comrades runner in the right frame of
mind for the Big C quite like a pasta party with inspirational
speakers, and they don’t come much more inspirational than
former great Elana Meyer, or Dr WP van Zyl, the man behind
the Unogwaja Challenge. Elana’s talk on her incredible career
included a goosebumps-inducing video of her silver medal run
in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics 10 000m final, and then WP’s
evocative talk took the audience back to the earliest days of
the Comrades and through some of the inspirational characters
that have made this race so great.
With the Modern Athlete Pacesetters in attendance, as well
as the whole Unogwaja Challenge team of rider-runners and
support crew, it made for a special evening, with the bonus
being a special appearance by Miss South Africa Rolene
Strauss. The 200 runners and supporters were treated to great
pasta courtesy of Fatti’s and Moni’s, and terrific spot prizes
courtesy of New Balance, to give them a rousing send-off
before their run.

Ask any Comrades runner what gets them through the 89km of Comrades and
they’ll tell you it is down to two things: The fitness and training they bring into the
race, and the support they get along the route at refreshment and spectator points.
For that reason, the Modern Athlete team was proud to join The Pink Drive at its
water table in Hillcrest, at the 34km to go mark, and do our part on race day to help
keep the runners going.
With an ‘army’ of pink-clad volunteers from three local high schools, Hillcrest High,
Kloof High and Hibberdene Academy, to dish out water, sports drink and snacks to the
runners, a DJ pumping out upbeat tunes, and Modern Athlete Editor Sean Falconer on
the mic while sporting a pink tutu, the pink-clad water table rocked from the minute the
first runner came past right until the last stragglers made their way into Hillcrest.

GET Your COMRADES Pics

Many of the photos in this article were supplied by Jetline Action Photo,
official photographer of the Comrades Marathon. Runners can go to
www.jetlineactionphoto.com to order their Comrades race day pics, so
that your memories of the 2014 race will never fade.

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