Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 66, January 2015 | Page 4

Ma Editor’s letter

PUBLISHERS
Mike Bray &
Craig Van der Westhuizen [e-mail]

ver the years I have collected a few things in
my running and journalistic careers, such as medals
and media passes, but the collection I am most proud
of is my runs with marathon world record holders. It
all started in 2003 when I was flown to Italy by Nike
for a product symposium and the mystery guest was
none other than newly-crowned marathon world record
holder Paul Tergat of Kenya, who had recently run
2:04:59. We didn’t just get to meet and interview Paul,
we got to run with him, and I will always treasure the
memory of him laughing at our jokes about us slowing
down if he was having trouble keeping up…
Having met Paul, I always hoped I would someday
meet and run with his great rival and friend, Haile
Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, and then in 2011 adidas
phoned to say Geb was in the country, so would I like
to interview and run with him? Would I? Soon I found
myself running on the Green point Promenade with a
second marathon world record holder (2:03:59), and I
was blown away by his pace – even though he was just
loping along, and hadn’t even taken off his tracksuit
pants!
Then in April 2014 I was invited by adidas to interview
and run with then world record holder Wilson Kipsang
(2:03:27), who was coming to South Africa as a
special guest of adidas at the Old Mutual Two Oceans
Marathon. However, to my great disappointment,
Wilson’s visa was delayed and he arrived a day later
than scheduled, so I got my interview, but the group
run was cancelled. Fast-forward to November and I
received another call from adidas to say Wilson was

back, and with him was newly crowned world record
holder Dennis Kimetto, fresh from his record-breaking
2:02:59 in Berlin.
And so I found myself running through Camps Bay with
the two fastest marathoners in histor 䀡