THERE’S no doubting the passion of eMdloti resident, Julian Karp. Since his first competitive run in 1989, he has done 681 marathons. In the last 10 years alone he done 450 ultra marathons (42 kilometres) and marathons.
Last year, he completed 62 races in ultra marathons and marathons around Africa. At 57, Karp averages more than 45 events a year.
“Last year I took some time off work and completed marathons in Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia to name a few. The last 18 months has been an incredible adventure. This year I’ve completed 30 events and I’m thinking of running some marathons in West Africa,” he said.
Karp’s running safari all started when he injured his knee in a social game of rubgy in Cape Town.
“I’ve always loved sport and being active. At school, I played competitive tennis, I also played soccer for the Wits U21 team. It was while playing a game of social rugby that I took a heavy knock to my knee. At the time, doctors didn’t want to operate so I had to give up contact sport.
“I began studying biokinetics and completed my sports diploma. Through my involvement with the biokinetic centre in Cape Town I was able to rehabilitate my knee and get stronger. Shortly afterwards a mate of mine asked me to join him on a short run and the rest as they say is history,” he said.
This year Karp will complete his 25th Comrades Marathon, a race like no other he says.
“Comrades to me is the epitome of an endurance race. The training and effort that people put into it is unreal. The vibe on race day is incredible, unless you’ve done it, you can’t understand how amazing it is, it really is awesome,” he said.
While he acknowledges 681 marathons is quite a feat, Karp is also attempting to attempt two other incredible Herculean achievements. The first is to go around the world in marathons and secondly to complete 1 000 ultra marathons and marathons.
“The circumference of the earth is 40 030 kilometres, I’m on about 34 000 kilometres from all my races. Just another 6 000 kilometres and I’m there. I’m sure I’ve covered the distance in training runs and short races but my aim is to do it in marathons.
“I’ve been logging all my kilometres in a portfolio of sorts. I also want to try and get to 1 000 marathons, not too many people have been able to do that. Hopefully within the next seven or eight years I’ll get there,” he said.
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