This is Gary Roscoe’s write up of Double Comrades – Gary was one of my marvellous crew.
Anyone wanting to run comrades is considered a little short on grey matter, but thousands do so every year and love it because running is a special sport and most South Africans love to run….
Any person running comrades is revered and all shapes and sizes do so….it amazes me that so many larger people actually run and finish… shows the capacity of the human body and mind….
To run it back to back is considered by many as “from another planet”… yet I was witness to this fact….this was the second time I had heard that someone was doing it – the previous time I was in the pens in PMB when the bloke doing it that year arrived at the start…I thought – what a nutter – he must be “broken” thinking he had to run back with 13000 fresh legs next to him…
Well Mimi was a sight to behold – tiny little thing – but you could see by the condition of the woman she was tough… and tough she proved to be….
I tried to second her by riding my mountain bike in front to pave the way and hopefully follow the correct route from DBN to PMB…it was quite difficult in parts because the lighting in the rural areas was poor or non-existent so we took two wrong turns and had to double back and another where we had to stop until Jane and I could find the route… fortunately in all cases we did not lose too much time….approx five minutes…but it felt like an eternity for me on the bike…
We managed to follow the route exactly except for one detour early where we added a few hundred meters to the journey due to traffic issues (peak hour traffic)…
Comrades is a tough race – the uphill is my favorite because there is less jarring than the down run… these two Neil and Mimi chatted incessantly for most of the up run and I tried to contribute little tit bits of information about the route and the history (some of which was maybe not 100% correct- the memory can get muddled you know)…
They only walked a couple of times – up part of my favorite hill Inchanga (a brute of a hill just after half way) and up the killer of all Polly Shorts – thankfully they were quite clever here and walked all the way up….because they needed to save energy for the run back down – Polly’s comes with 10km to go and has broken many a potential winner… after Polly’s it is a fast run in to the finish.
I rode for approx 68 km but when my backside got too sore (I hadn’t been in the saddle since my last race two months prior), I got off and ran for 10km with them…which was great fun….I decided for the last 8km to sit in the support vehicle and witness the run in from a comfy seat whilst being served breakfast by Jane….
After the up run we hung around and waited while Mimi and Neil had a massage and food and then when I had the chance made my escape for home with the two amazing body guards that had sat in the support vehicle all night…great chaps…we had tickets to get back in the supporter bus..but they had other ideas and found a mate who had dropped a runner and we all piled in the car with bicycle and all and happily made our way back to Durban ….
I tried to rest when I got back but the girlfriend had other ideas and as she was already on route waiting for all our mates, I had to get back out there and support… which was fantastic as I saw everyone at Westville (14km to go)….comrades really is a special race and for someone who has done the race it is especially relevant as you know the pain the runners are in…I was moved when I saw Mimi come past and was elated that this woman was going to make it…in my mind a magnificent achievement…truly from another planet…
To Neil… who I did not see at Westville…sorry mate…but I did see your better half Claire and she was doing very well…see you at an Ironman one day…this guy does the Deca…. ten Ironman back to back 24km swim, 1800km ride and 420km run….the ultimate race – I struggle to do one…respect dude!!
I want to thank Jane for the amazing organization and the effort put in to support this endeavor…it takes a lot of work to prepare for this type of undertaking and a lot of stress whilst doing it….kudu’s to her for a fine effort…and thanks to Mimi for asking one of my friends to try to get someone from Durban to support her in the seconding effort…I hope that I helped in a small way to make the up run a success….I had fun in the process…
Uh ya and maybe next year I will be back running the race…in fact I will be one of the first to enter!
