Comrades runner to put his body through the paces
After running the Comrades Marathon more than 10 times, Johan is ready to take on a marathon of extraordinary measure
POLOKWANE – While running the gruelling Comrades Marathon is on many people’s bucket list, very few ever actually get to tick it off. Then there are those who return to take up the challenge year after year.
Local runner, Johan van der Merwe, has just won his 10th silver medal at the 2017 Comrades Marathon but says that the race was not even his focus point for the year. On 1 July, he will be one of thousands of runners travelling to Ireland to tackle the 24-hour ultra marathon.
During the marathon he will be running for 24 hours from the starting block to see how far he can run within the given time.
Johan started running 19 years ago and has since run 17 Comrades Marathons, acquiring 10 silver medals of which seven were in consecutive years. This year he ran the race in 07:04, a time he says he did not even plan for as the Comrades was only a warm up race for the ultra marathon.
His best time in the previous nine years was 06:24, which is close to the record currently held.
Van der Merwe says that he loves running as it is a sport that makes you challenge yourself.
“You are at odds with yourself the whole time. It is a sport that helps you stay healthy and at this stage I can eat whatever I want and never gain weight, so it is a sport that I would advise anyone to take up.”
He said that he would run the Comrades again next year in order to better his own personal best time.
