On Sunday (31 May) the annual Comrades marathon kicks off and 17 of our own athletes will be competing.
Karen Bezuidenhout from Randmark Running and Cycling Club told the Herald more about the 17 athletes from their club,competing in Sundays 90th Comrades Marathon.
This is a big year for the Comrades and the whole country will be watching this big race. For the comrades one has to qualify by running 42kms in under
five hours.
Three of the 17 athletes competing is starting in the “B” Batch which is a very good starting position to have and for that the athlete would have to have run 42 kilometers in under 3 hours.
These athletes are Daniel Willemse, 39, who is running his 15th Comrades this year and Almon Zibuse, 64, is still going strong and he should do very well in his age category.
Amongst the athletes there are a Primary school teacher and a mother of two children. At age 35, Charlene Beukman is the youngest athlete competing
and she has ran 1 189 kms from January till now. A better start at the Comrades is sought after and runners train and run far and hard to do a good qualifying
time at races before the Comrades.
Training for the Comrades are time consuming and one has to spend endless hours on the road. The Comrades are all about kms in other words distance training.
Jan Meyer at the club says one should not attempt the Comrades unless you have between 1 200 and 1 500 kms training under the belt.
Bezuidenhout also mentioned that your social life, family functions unfortunately has to go on the back burner if you want to complete the race successfully.
The training recommended in April, just before the Comrades, involves a lot of kms on the road and athletes should be very cautious of there health regarding the flu and infections.
Keep an eye out for Sunday’s marathon where we will be keeping you up to date on all the exciting news.
