“Good morning South Africa, good morning!”

Words that still reverberate in my mind.

This was the greeting I and other spectators gathered at Camperdown received (some 25km from Pietermaritzburg City Hall) by a positively optimistic runner making his way along the 89km down run route.

Why did it resonate with me?

I guess it was because I was at the greatest sporting spectacle and the most historic event to have ever been held on South African soil (besides the ’95 Rugby World Cup or 2010 Fifa World Cup, I suppose).

It was the 2016 Comrades Marathon (the 91st running of it) – and I was there witnessing the world famous ultra distance run for the very first time.

But, whoa!

Hold on a sec…

Let’s backtrack a bit to the start of it all.

Why did I head on down to the land of Shaka Zulu in the first place and what did I learn there?

I have been there innumerable times before, but this time it was different.

If you read my first blog of 2016 I listed a few things that had been ingrained in my head while down in the Western Cape for a few weeks.

So, in following with tradition whenever I leave my Rynfield residence, here are some of the things I learned in KZN during my spontaneously short stay:

1. South Africa, you absolute peach!

This was the first point made in my Cape Town blog in January, but it still (and always) rings true.

From the rolling hills that welcome you when you arrive in Natal to the imposing yet majestic view that form a knot in your stomach when you stand at the extreme edge of the Kloof gorge, to sticking your toes in the warm coastal waters of the Indian Ocean it is obvious that KwaZulu-Natal is just another gem in this gorgeous place we call home.

With the exchange rate rising faster than acid drainage from a Witwatersrand mine you can still be a tourist in your own country and appreciate the unique natural serenity and historically and culturally rich beauty of SA.

There is so much I still need and want to see in my country and my destination list continues to get longer by the day.

 

2. Man, I really suck at golf, but I’ll just keep swinging anyway

A sports journalist who is terrible at golf?

What?

Shock!

Horror!

Yep, I’m about as talented with golf club in hand as a T-Rex would be at touching its toes, but, with every round comes a new lesson, and slowly (like Driving Miss Daisy) I am making progress and gradually shooting lower scores and tweaking a few things with regards to my swing.

My first experience on a Natal golf course saw me accompanying two former Benonian friends (who are now Natalians) to Sacabula Golf Course in the heart of the Midlands countryside.

A course with panoramic views of the Drakensburg and surrounding mountains (refer back to Lesson One) it was a test of note.

I won’t tell you what my score was, but, like I said to a buddy who asked me how it went out there, “it was like Benoni Country Club mixed with Ebotse Links and the Comrades Marathon” (due to the ginormous hills that we were forced to walk as we refrained from taking karts – amateur mistake).

Overall it was a beaut of a day and I will hopefully be better prepared for when the Benoni City Times Charity Golf Day at Ebotse comes around in September.

3. People are crazy, but in a good way

 And now, finally, the reason for my visit – the world’s greatest ultra marathon.

I was always one of those people who would watch bits and pieces of the Comrades Marathon and think to myself: “I could do that – easy!”

Truth be told, after my experience roadside out there on Sunday, I am a little bit more skeptical about my abilities.

I went for a 3.5km run when I got back to B-Town and, to be entirely honest, I was huuuuuuurting out there.

How would I manage 89 of those bad boys?

Please don’t hold me to it or take a screenshot of this comment, but I’d like to give it a bash before I hit 30 (three-and-a-half years to go then, gulp!).

I’ll just stick with the infamous “let’s see how it goes” phrase.

Anyway, back to the mightiest of marathons.

I was up bright and early at 3am on Sunday to see off some good friends (also Benonians) as they gathered at the renowned down run starting point at Pietermaritzburg City Hall.

I teamed up with my Benoni brother Warren “Pappa G” Gultig on his seconding duties for his wife Kaylin (a longtime friend of mine since Grade One Arbor Primary School days).

From Maritzburg we headed off to various points along the route.

Fighting for gaps in traffic with hordes of fellow supporters en route, looking for parking spots and, in one instance, walking a mini Comrades of our own in Hillcrest (cooler box in hand, of course).

I really wanted to do the seconding thing, though.

I truly desired to see what Comrades is like for the average Joe (the often unsung heroes of Comrades) as they move along the route with nothing but love in their hearts and liquids and painkillers in their bags supporting and cheering on their family and friends.

I needed to get a sense of the race for myself to be able to put it into words when I filed a report, put together this blog piece and snapped action photographs for the City Times and Brakpan Herald.

I wanted to get a feel for it all – the sights, the colours, the camaraderie, the ambience, the smells…

Okay, maybe not the smells.

I wanted to scream: “Go Northerns, go Harriers!” as runners from the local clubs (who are often the subject of my sports articles) devoured the kilometres, because… Benonians are awesome!

CLICK HERE for a gallery of Northerns runners

CLICK HERE for a gallery of Harriers runners

I wanted to see the gents of Team Shongololo bringing that massive green worm home, and I did.

I wanted to see the backwards-running Rastafarian beekeeper Farai Chinomwe doing his thing to raise the plight of the vanishing bee populations, and I did.

At one point we were standing in the middle of the closed off N3 Highway just outside of Kloof watching runners moving ahead to Durban.

How cool is that?

Standing on a road where trucks, cars and buses would usually be going about their business.

CLICK HERE for the article about Team Shongololo

From there we drove off to Kingsmead Cricket Stadium where (after eventually finding a parking spot) my heart beamed with pride as I saw runners from all over the globe, from all walks of life, realising that they had finally reached the Promised Land.

Pride was the order of the afternoon as more and more familiar faces shuffled in to the stadium.

I smiled wider than that gorge in Kloof when I saw my friend get to the destination.

Just sheer magic!

I witnessed runners whose bodies had given up on them being carried by people they had probably never met before to the finish and celebrations second to none.

In no other sport event that I have ever covered have I felt goosebumps like that.

4. Failure isn’t always failure

As always at Comrades there are those who didn’t get to experience the ambiance of finishing the race.

There were those (some friends of mine, too) who fell out due to injury, tiredness or who missed route cut-off points.

Are they failures?

Hell no!

In March, when the City Times partnered with Benoni Northerns Athletics Club as media partners for the Benoni Northerns Marathon, we used the quote “The miracle isn’t that I finished! The miracle is that I had the courage to start!” to promote the race.

And that is exactly what they proved.

Courage is lining up with the masses waiting for the taped version of Max Trimborn’s cockerel crow to get things going.

There are no failures at Comrades.

5. South Africans are simply awesome

Much has been said about the tangible spirit of Comrades, but simply put it is made possible by the tireless work of countless South Africans who have made Vic Clapham’s dream a roaring success for 91 years.

The different people who run the race (I saw a guy in a full suit taking it on) are the truest reflection of our diverse people and how we can all come together with a common goal.

It’s like women’s winner Charne Bosman’s husband Carel Bosman Tweeted after the race:

My realization on the last few days is this,we have the greatest people in the world.Our diversity is our strengh.We need to stand together

— Carel Bosman (@BosmanCarel) May 31, 2016

I couldn’t have said it any better myself!

What a trip!

“Good morning South Africa!” Good afternoon and good night.

Until the up run in 2017!

LG

You might also be interested in:

Harriers head to Comrades

BN runners ready for the Big ‘C’

Talking all things Comrades

Benonians dominate the Comrades down run

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