Local athletes prepare for any outcome over Comrades Marathon

WHILE a decision is yet to be reached on whether the Comrades Marathon will go ahead in June, local runners say they are preparing for a variety of outcomes when the decision is finally made. March and April are recognised as the peak training months for Comrades runner and some athletes feel the marathon will be postponed and pushed to a date later this year.

Some runners spoke to the Northglen News about their training schedule ahead of the marathon.

uMhlanga runner, Lisa Collett said she will continue to train as she would until a pronouncement is made about the race being postponed or going ahead in June.

“We also have to prepare ourselves that any mileage training we try and build we might have to pull back on and rebuild at a later stage if it is postponed. No one has ever experienced such a situation before so it is all unknown and we will have to try and keep our focus and motivation flexible to the times we are living in. We will continue to train as best we can under the restrictions and respecting the laws around Covid-19 but it is not easy when our training groups are limited to small groups and we don’t have any training events,” explained Collett.

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“I think we all accept it is frivolous to complain if the race is postponed because all sports have been affected. There is just a huge unknown at the moment. I think all athletes preparing for the race understand that there are bigger issues and lives at stake due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. We are preparing for various outcomes which will determine the way forward,” she said.

Cuan Walker, who has completed three Comrades Marathons and is a Comrades commentator said he remains positive the event will be postponed to a later date.

“I’m reassured that there’s been no talk of the event being cancelled outright. Like Lisa (Collett) had said, this is the peak training phase for all Comrades Marathon runners. I’m yet to qualify for the race and had intended on using the upcoming Loskop Marathon in April to do that but that too has been cancelled.

“I think part of this journey is the training, it feels weird to say this but the race is a small part of the Comrades journey. The way I see it is the race will be postponed but at least they are looking at a later date,” he said.

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