FEATURE
The family moved back to Cape Town in 1975 . After finishing matric , he went to the army and started running in 1983 . It all just progressed from there . He ran for Hout Bay Harriers in 1989 and moved to various clubs before starting Wildrunner in 2011 , and is currently still the chairperson of the club .
Ryninks continued running the ultra until 2019 . Everyone missed 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and in 2022 he returned to run his 33rd ultra . In December 2022 , he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer . That turned his whole life upside down for a year and he missed 2023 as a result . He is now well on his way to getting back on the road because his goal is to finish at least 40 ultras and then push on to 50 if possible .
“ I would really love to finish 56 Ultras , but that would mean running my 56th TOM at the age of around 87 and that would probably be wishful thinking .
“ This year is my 42nd year of running . So , in essence , it is my marathon year . I averaged about 140 km per week for about 10 to 12 years . So , I was used to very high mileage .”
According to Ryninks , the benefit of having done all that training paid off because it enabled his medical team to give him chemo treatment at the age of 65 that they would not normally give to someone over the age of 50 . He believes it ’ s a lesson to people to keep on training because it has a superb long-term benefit on their health . On 26 December 2022 , he also decided to stop drinking . Besides not touching alcohol , he also cut out sugar from his diet . The motivation behind that was that lymphatic cancer is extremely responsive to sugar .
“ It was a lifestyle twist because cutting out sugar meant giving myself the best shot of defence against this thing . However , it ’ s gonna be a tough journey , especially based on where I have been the last 14 months . I haven ’ t done a decent amount of training .
“ In October , November last year I was over the moon because I was doing 70 to 80 km per week , and I thought I was back on the bicycle , and I could go for it . In December everything went haywire , and I was down to doing 30 to 40 km per week again . So , the mental belief of what I know from the past in terms of what foundation I need to enable me to run this race is not there .
“ I did 30km recently and was very happy with that because I was able to run comfortably at five-and-ahalf minutes per km . That has given me some good mental confidence . My sensible target is going to be about six minutes per km .”
Ryninks is still ‘ old-school ’ and believes all his ultra finishes have to be under six hours , so that is what he is aiming for . However , he knows it ’ s not going to be easy because he has also developed a new condition which is chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy .
“ The chemotherapy medication is so strong that it feels like it sometimes immobilises you . It attacks my nerves and causes havoc . It feels like someone is sticking a taser in your arm and a bolt of lightning travels down your arm and your leg . So , the left side of my body becomes very sensitive . My strides get affected and I am not able to lift my legs as I normally do . I am just hoping that on race day none of this happens . So , two days before race day I will have to stop my medication and just take it on the chin .
“ However , I still believe I can get through this . I must try . I have run it on nothing before and there is no reason I can ’ t do it again ,” he says confidently .
INTERESTING BNC STATISTICS
Males with the most ultra medals :
• Louis Massyn ( age 73 ); ( Blue Number 35 ) − ( 46 medals ) will be going for his 47th ultra medal
• Tony Abrahamson ( age 74 ); ( Blue Number 36 ) − ( 45 medals ) will be going for his 46th ultra medal
• John Mugglestone ( age 65 ); ( Blue Number 127 ) − ( 43 medals ) will be going for his 44th ultra medal
• Mark Wagenheim ( age 68 ); ( Blue Number 140 ) − ( 43 medals ) will be going for his 44th ultra medal
• Paul Leader ( age 68 ); ( Blue Number 122 ) − ( 42 medals ) will be going for his 43rd ultra medal
• Hercu Hofmeyer ( age 65 ); ( Blue Number 257 ) − ( 41 medals ) will be going for his 42nd ultra medal
• Colin Bonthuys ( age 70 ); ( Blue Number 343 ) − ( 40 medals ) will be going for his 41st ultra medal .
• Mark Raubenheimer ( age 62 ); ( Blue Number 328 ) − ( 40 medals ) will be going for his 41st ultra medal .
Females with 30 Ultra Medals
• Sharon Bosch ( age 61 ); ( Blue Number 1953 ) − ( 30 medals ) will be going for her 31st ultra medal
• Lucille Damon ( age 64 ) ( Blue Number 1525 ) − ( 30 medals ) will be going for her 31st ultra medal
11 runners going for their 30th ultra medal ( triple laurel ): Lawrence Ashworth , Thomas Briggs , Henry Cierverts , Beaumont Cooper , Philip Fleming , Deon Gouws , Andre Kleinsmith , Samuel Louw , Ricky Pillay , Barry Ponsford , Mark Tolsma .
Youngest Male Runner to 10 Ultra Medals : Tiaan Rossouw − 27 years ; 120 days .
Youngest Female Runner to 10 Ultra Medals : Brigid Taylor − 27 years and 40 days
Youngest Male Runner to 20 Ultra Medals : David Cousins − 37 years and 356 days from the United Kingdom
Youngest Female Runner to 20 Ultra Medals : Elize Green − 43 years and 57 days
Runners achieving special milestones :
• 223 runners are going for their 10th ultra ( single laurel )
• 30 runners are going for their 20th ultra ( double laurel )
• 25 runners are going for their 25th ultra medal .
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