Comrades step-by-step: Covid-19 scary because we don’t know what the challenge is

Perhaps one of the most perplexing characteristics of this Covid-19 pandemic is that it has presented us with a challenge with no fixed end point.

We have no idea how long the nightmare will be with us as no expert can accurately forecast its future trajectory.

In addition, many of us are filled with a sense of dread that this marathon within a marathon, the current 21-day lockdown, could be extended.

We know that this is going to be one of the most gruelling challenges we have ever encountered and worse still we don’t know the exact nature of that challenge.

However distant the finish line might be at the moment there is no faint light at the end of the tunnel, no sight of a last distance marker or of the parked cars at the finish stadium, the lighting gantries or announcer’s distant voice.

And all those other hints that marathon runners use to sense the end.

Tell any marathon runner the exact nature of the challenge and most will rise to the occasion.

If it’s a half marathon we are tackling, we can programme our minds to meet the challenge of the 21km we have to run.

As we run, we can tick off the kilometre boards and we can dream about the cold beer and the shared laughter and war stories with our club mates at the finish.

If it’s the Comrades Marathon we have to run, we understand that the challenge is a major 90km-journey which includes some brutal hills and steep jarring descents.

The problem with this coronavirus marathon is that it’s a race we have to run whether we like it or not. We have no choice and it’s an awfully tricky because of the uncertainty.

One thing that is a certain is that the Comrades Marathon will not be run on the 14th June.

While we still await an official statement, it seems highly improbable that the race can go ahead in June as no one in South Africa and in many other countries would have been able to train properly.

Travel, particularly international travel, is impossible and in all probability there will still be onerous restrictions on movement and large gatherings come June.

As I write this Wimbledon has been cancelled and that was set to start a full fortnight after the Comrades.

No, it just doesn’t seem realistic to still hope for a Comrades Marathon on 14 June.

What most of us are hoping for is a postponement rather than a cancellation.

If the race is postponed, thousands of runners will have their dreams deferred, but not brutally ended.

If the race is cancelled, it will be the first time since the second World War that the great race won’t be staged.

Postponement I would imagine would mean that Comrades would then probably be staged in late September or early October.

I can already hear the clamour of protesting voices.

“But it’s going to be so hot then”, or, ”surely we will all die”.

It will be early spring in KZN then and there are many weather possibilities at that time of year.

It often snows in the Drakensberg in September.

Some of us will recall the heavy snow that fell across large parts of the country in September 1981.

Even Comrades Marathons in June have occasionally turned out to be dangerously warm, with 2013 springing to mind.

I believe that those of us who love the race so much will simply be delighted to experience a 2020 race no matter what time of the year it is held.

Assuming I am correct and that the Comrades is postponed until September/October thousands of Comrades runners will be wondering how to train for the new date.

First of all everyone has to push the reset button.

Every 2020 Comrades runner has to imagine that it is now the middle of January and the great build up is only due to start in late February/March.

In other words, the time to start training for the new race date is the beginning of May.

For the next weeks while we are in lockdown and it requires 40 laps around the house to log a kilometer and the compost heap is the steepest hill, enjoy the enforced rest.

A few weeks of easy light easy running is all that is required.

Most Comrades runners are very fit at this stage and were on their way up the slope to peak fitness.

They need to descend very rapidly.

Here in South Africa lockdown really helps.

It is impossible to log impressive training mileage when there is nowhere to run that mileage.

In a sense I am delighted because if it weren’t for lockdown some runners would be tempted to “just keep going”.

They would be valiantly trying to do the impossible and maintain peak training for months on end.

This way we can all just start again. Injured runners will be delighted to be able to start again while recovering from their injuries.

Then runners must simply embark on the same journey they followed three months ago.

Half-marathons in May, first marathons in June and ultras and club long runs in July and August.

August is also the month to start some quality and sharpening work for Comrades and then September signals the long pre-race taper.

If the race is postponed and restrictions on running are lifted in June and the following months, it will be a unique challenge for Southern African runners.

They will have to train right through winter.

This means dark mornings with bitter frost on the Highveld and cold rain and wind in the Cape.

But this is exactly what our Northern Hemisphere runners endure every year on their journey towards the Comrades and they seem to cope admirably.

I know that there will be an avalanche of queries from anxious runners about qualifying events, substitutions, seedings, entry fees and many more concerns.

I am in no position to answer any of those queries, but I have every confidence the Comrades Marathon Association will discuss and find solutions to all those questions.

But I do know that if the Comrades is postponed, we will all have the opportunity to be part of athletics history.

We could witness the first spring running of the Comrades Marathon.

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