Breaking Barriers: The ultra-distance race that bends the rules

There’s a rule in ultra-distance running, and it’s an important one for any elite athlete with ambitions of victory: Don’t ever chase a record.

For all his achievements on the road, national marathon record holder Gert Thys is perhaps best known these days for his overly ambitious approach to the Comrades Marathon.

Every time he ran the 90km race, Thys threatened to shatter the record by running under five hours. He crashed and burned every time he tried.

And the equally popular 56km Two Oceans ultra-marathon has had many athletes charging out, chasing lucrative record bonuses from the start. They too have hit the wall and bombed out. Every single time.

Start conservatively

Bruce Fordyce probably said it best: When you’re running an ultra-distance race, you start conservatively with the intent to finish. If you’re feeling good, you aim for a top position. Later, if you’re still feeling strong, you target a win. And at the end, if the record is in sight and you’re fresh enough, you put your head down and go for it.

Any other approach simply doesn’t work. IIf you start too fast in an ultra-marathon, you pay for it in the second half of the race. That’s just the way it is.

Well, that’s what we thought until the Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km race started bending the rules.

When it was launched a couple of years ago, organisers made it clear that the purpose of the race was for athletes to chase world records. And they’ve done a spectacular job of making it happen.

While South Africa’s other ultra-distance races are mass participation events which are generally held on challenging courses, the Breaking Barriers race is held on a flat course and it is open only to elite athletes.

Shattering records

As ambitious as they were, the organisers found immediate success at the inaugural edition in 2021 when Ethiopian athlete Keteme Negasa (2:42:07) and local favourite Irvette van Zyl (3:04:23) set new 50km world records.

And last year, South Africa’s top distance runner Stephen Mokoka obliterated Negasa’s mark when he won the race in 2:40:13.

READ MORE: Mokoka breaks 50km world record on ultra-marathon debut

Of course, with the records having been sliced in recent years, they’re getting harder to break, but the strong local and international line-ups put together for tomorrow’s Breaking Barriers race in Gqeberha will again be chasing the global 50km marks, with pace setters ensuring it will be quick from the start.

While this might have seemed like a silly approach a couple of years ago, organisers of SA’s newest ultra-marathon have proved it can be done.

By bending the rules, barriers can be broken. Let’s see if they can do it again.