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Gary White takes on the iconic Comrades Marathon
Monday 5th September 2022
Last weekend Gary White fulfilled a long time running ambition to run the Comrades (Ultra) Marathon in South Africa. This was his experience of this amazing event...
Comrades Marathon South Africa (ed. err..91k Gary is actually more than two marathons!) is the oldest and largest Ultramarathon in the World. This was the 95th edition and there were around 20,000 people running it this year.
The start includes running in to the sunrise...
This was a 'Down Run' year from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. The race has one of the best starts of any race I’ve done (and Gary has done a lot!) with “Shosholoza” played, the crow of the cockerel and the cannon fired. Things were going OK until around 60k when my quads had decided they had had enough. We were warned not to underestimate the impact of the down hill running on your quads but obviously my legs were not up for the job.
Ed. it should be noted that looking on Gary could not have trained harder for this event but he has some useful tips for anyone thinking about taking on Comrades (especially perhaps the 'down hill' edition!)
'I’d recommend loops of Bear Road, Elm Grove, Freshfield Road and Wilsons Avenue!'
I limped into the finish at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban and beat the cut off times (ed. by a long way!) to collect one of the smallest medals of any race.
