Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 63, October 2014 | Page 11

Friends
Forever

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od

Ka
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lme

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holder. We
mb
ass
stayed together at
ado
Global Sport in Holland
r’s
while competing on the
European circuit, and it was hard
to communicate, but I showed her
and some of the other Ethiopians how to
play UNO. At least I managed to beat her in
something...

One of my favourite quotes is by
Chrisje Haesemdonck: “Running
together, makes friendship
stronger and stronger.”

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Blo

g

Rene and Ingvill

– BY RENE KALMER

I

’m sure most runners will agree that one of
the greatest benefits of running is the friendship
we share through this amazing sport, and what I
cherish most about running is that it gives me the
opportunity to travel the world and to make both
local and global friends… Even if it means that
friends like Willie Steyn, Johan Grassman, Anthony
Bold and Sean Falconer ‘sabotage’ my Facebook
wall with their own random conversations… ;-)

Rene
and Irvette

I think many people are surprised by the great
bond that the elite runners share with one another,
especially my friendship with Irvette van Zyl. I
believe it is because we know that trying to make
a career out of running is a rollercoaster ride
where your highs are very high and your lows very
low. Irvette was plagued by injury the past two
years and was forced to lay off for six months after
surgery. I shared in her tears and frustration, and

Modern Athlete Stockists

Images: Santie Korf Photography & courtesy Rene Kalmer

FRIENDS VS RIVALS

I’m happy that she came back from her setbacks
even stronger. We have all experienced setbacks
on this ‘joyride’ and we know how to support one
another in the good and the bad.
Irvette is probably my greatest running rival, but
off the track we are best buddies. Our friendship
does not weaken our competitiveness – we both
want to win – but competing against each other
doesn’t put pressure on our friendship, either. It
is quite normal for us to travel to races together,
but at the start line we put friendship aside till
after the race, when we will go for a cool-down
together.
Irvette and I have been training partners for
six years, and we clocked many miles together
chasing the same dream to qualify for the 2012
Olympic Games in London. We share the same
sponsors, therapist and agent, but we share an
even greater sense for adventure off the track.
One of these adventures was when we backpacked from the Garden Route to the Wild Coast
with a R120 limit per night for accommodation.
We even took up surfing lessons on this trip,
but realised it is easier and more fun to use the
surfboards as boogie boards.

My best g