Comrades 2020

Bike It

I'm in the Comrades Marathon 2020 Start List!  My application has been sitting in the query file as I couldn't put on a South African ID number on my postal application.  I've had to pay the difference between local and foreign entry price and 10 minutes later my entry was processed and I'm on the Start List.

Although I am a Permanent Resident in SA, I have an administrative problem to get an ID as I am missing a core piece of paper to apply for an ID.  For the last 3 years I've been registering as a local as I qualified under the old ASA rules.  Now I am a foreigner under ASA rules and have to apply as such.

I just need to get fit now. Training week so far goes:
Monday: 2km run treadmill
Tuesday: 4km club run road
Wednesday: 10min swim
Thursday: 3km run treadmill
Ankle getting better but still some way to go to fully repaired

Best wishes for the 777 Lowrez.  If there is anyone who can do it, it is you.  Thank you for reminding us of your 2016 Comrades, which ranks as one of the best Comrades performances ever IMHO.

Peter R

Great news Bike it.  Ironically although I havent lived in SA for many years (left in 1986) I do have an ID book somewhere in the house.

Terry48

Lowrez, good luck and safe travels with your 777. Enjoy.

Bike It, good to hear that your entry is sorted at last, now you can concentrate on training without that distraction.

PeterDHM

Good luck on your travels Lowrez, and everyone else running this weekend!

1owrez

Bike It, good to see you are accepted even though its gone expensive. You have done way more mileage than me this week, hope the ankle comes good soon. As was the slogan that year; I'm humbled by your kind words on my battle out of that cul-de-sac

McH and SS, thanks for the donations, all you guys have given my charity campaign such an incredible boost these past few days!

Thanks for all the best wishes everyone, small world indeed Peter!

Current marathon itinerary looks like this (UTC is UK time):-

I get in the taxi to the airport at 3:30pm tomorrow, heading to Dubai at 8:40pm. Haven't packed yet I better go get some kip!

Debra Bourne

Bike It: SO glad to hear you've finally made it onto the start list. Good luck with (carefully!) increasing your mileage.

lowrez: good luck for the 7-7-7. I hope all goes well.

terry: good luck for continued progress.

Peter: well done in the Grim Up North

Mc Hilly: good luck for making it to a qualifying marathon.

Jonny: just keep on running.

Dubairunner

Lowrez,I’ll not be at the airport tomorrow morning. However I will see you at the marathon. I may not be at the start as I have a meeting to attend but will be there at some point.
i think you fly in to Dubai’s second airport so should be a pretty smooth transition to Jumeirah beach. See you on the 9th, good luck!

1owrez

Thanks Dubai, will update the schedule when I can if anything changes. Currently at Manchester airport carbo loading

funnerunner

Hi guys. Sorry its not relating to 2020 thread but you seem like the right crowd to point me in the right direction.
I'm planning for  2021 and live in Northern Ireland. I used to live in SA but entering as a foreign runner. 
Im thinking about my qualifying marathon. I never got a place for Dublin and other big local marathons like Cork, Belfast etc are too early/ late for the qualifying cut off dates or just too close for comfort. Id ideally like to run my marathon between september and December. I could get a charity place but it would crank up costs which im trying to avoid. Anyway...im a bit unsure what the specification is for a 'qualifying marathon' there are loads of local marathons but want to pick one that will actually count. 
Also im a bit unsure about the rule of licensed runners. I am in a running club which is not affiliated with NiAthletics will I need to join an affiliated club or register our club in order to compete?
Anybody any clearer on the rules to help a girl out . TIA😁🇿🇦

Bike It

Hi Funnerunner

As a foreign athlete, you do not need to be a member of a running club. 

Previously many of us have qualified at smaller marathons. I just think that the results need to be available on line although I could be wrong. It needs to be run in the qualifying window which you would need to find from the Comrades website. 

Debra Bourne

Hi Funnerunner, welcome. I agree with Bike It. They want 'marathon' in the title (assuming you're using a marathon for qualification) and results available online. I've used small, low-key marathons previously. Worth looking at the list on the 100 Marathon Club website: https://www.100marathonclub.org.uk/calendars/user-events - you're looking for one that says 'Marathon' or preferably 'Road Marathon', not 'timed event' 'trail marathon' or 'challenge'. So for example there's Richmond Marathon 13th September in London.

1owrez

Funnerunner September to December is currently bang in the qualifying window, it usually runs from end Aug to beginning of May. You can always e-mail info@comrades.com to confirm a marathon is suitable, but the comments so far are correct, if it's on-line and called a marathon it'll be allowed.

1owrez

2 hours ahead of you guys now and not slept in 36 ha ha - leccy went off just after I got to the hotel, they call it "load sharing" - who the hell are they sharing it with? Sunset was amazing

It was 28C when I arrived at 5pm, taxi driver said it hit 34C downtown earlier... Glad the schedule is a 5am start here on Friday if all goes to plan!

Any news from Devon?

I better go get some kip or I will sleep through breccy!

Bike It

Thanks Lowrez - you were sharing the load with me.  I could have lights and power thanks to you.  SA has power demand in excess of supply at some periods.  Then the electrical supply is turned off in whole areas to reduce the demand.  

1owrez

Happy to share Bike It Think the power in this B&B is a bit dodgy anyway. I suppose the sharing is putting a strain on the infrastructure in general, power has been off and on sporadically, sometimes the lights keep going but the rest is off... been trying to charge my phone since I got here but nowhere near enough up time to get it 100% yet.

Southern Snail

News from Devon....

South Devon Ultra
That was a seriously tough day!! I have done Exmoor Marathon in the same series twice now. It is billed as their most difficult so I think I had in my head that this would be easier... but I wasn't expecting so many rocks and the mud, at times my feet were completely submerged in icy mud. It was also about 20mph wind all day. One patch that was done twice was a long strip of red clay and gluey mud. I certainly couldn't run in it and it was amazing how large my feet were and how heavy when I got to the other end!! A little down the lane was a stream that was too wide to jump but at least I thought it would clean my trainers!! But not a hope.. just cold feet. At about 16 miles I was completely done in and decided that I would probably stop at the marathon. Not long after I was talking to some man and telling him this. He asked me why I would do that? I'd gone for the ultra and if I didn't do it I would have achieved absolutely nothing. I was a bit indignant at that, I have to say, but he obviously got my mind whirring. By the time I got to 27 miles and saw Mr SS I said to him "you do know I'm going for the last 10K, don't you?" Boy was I glad to see that field with the finish line in it though.
So 33.8 miles, 8h 50m, 6200ft ascent and somewhat more mud and rocks than I thought but I came 1st in my age group (and yes, I was the only one in my age group - but it'll be the only first I'll ever get, so I'll take it ) I wasn't even last. There were 4 behind me!! So pleased of course that I did all of it and got the better of the negative thoughts. An amazing day out if not a long one.
Also out of approximately 110 starters for the ultra, about 20 didn't complete it.

Southern Snail

Funnerunner - welcome. What the others said. Definitely doesn't need to be a big major marathon to qualify. I qualified in December with a small marathon running up and down the Thames. So long as they publish the results for all to see.

Lowrez - getting close now for that first one in Antartica. Thats definitely going to be something special.

1owrez

That had me smiling and giggling all the way through SS, my feet are cold and blistered just reading your words. Brilliant result, well done

Becca7

Well done on another tough ultra, Snail. 

Welcome Funnerunner

Great that your entry is confirmed, Bike It.

Debra Bourne

lowrez: glad you're safely in South Africa. That sunset is amazing.

Southern Snail: well done you in what sound like rather challenging conditions! And congrats on the age group win - if others couldn't be bothered to turn up and do it...

It was SVN Random Ranscombe Challenge for me yesterday (random means you get to choose your medal from a selection of old ones!). Very mild for the time of year (I was in shorts, for an ultra, at the start of February - unheard of for me). Heavy overnight rain meant that most of the course was quite slippery (lots of slipping and sliding and waving arms about to avoid falling) and quite a few sections were not runnable. A notable exception was the lovely downhill section through the wood that's on good gravel trail, so I did speedwork down there: 0.43 miles, times 2:37 to 2:50. I was one of only two people to complete 10 laps (37.5 miles) - but he was faster than I was (finished about 15 mins ahead of me). Nobody lapped me, not even the fastest of the marathoners - which shows how much slower they were than usual (fastest was 4:22). I finished in 7:27:48 - vs. my 7:30:28 for 41.25 miles on the same course in the autumn in good underfoot conditions.

1owrez

Well done Debra

I just installed Garmin connect on my phone, paired it to my fenix3 on Bluetooth etc and a while later my watch vibrates and tells me I have received an email from a friend - what? A fenix3 can do that too? Did I tell you I work in IT

Slow Duck

Well done SS and Debra on persevering in trying conditions.

I feel a bit guilty reporting on my hot and sunny run in Murcia, Spain where I managed to bag a 3:49 off a 1:54, 1:55 split.

Happy with my D seeding so will just get back to training again...

Mc Hilly

Great runs Debra and S.S there is always such a great sense of achievement in completing things when the conditions are tough! 

Awesome splits S.D.
am very much looking forward to reading reports as the 777 progresses, and maybe seeing the runs on Strava, if Lowrez manages to work out the IT!

1owrez

Brilliant run SD, metronomic

Hoping my return from Antarctica will be to a powered up Cape Town where I can upload the first result to Strava before I dash down the road to the start line for marathon 2 McH and then similar again, leg it to hotel, upload to Strava, shower, dash to airport for Perth flight

It's race pack pick-up and event briefing tonight at 6pm UK time, if I get time I will update again after it.

Ooo look Debra, a dinosaur tapir skellington

marty74

Brilliant run SD. Looks like you are on good form for your 20th!!

Lowrez - That's a great museum in cape Town. Hope you have managed to make it up Table Mountain as well. Enjoy your adventure.

Debra Bourne

Well run SD - great splits!

lowres: have a great time, good luck - and good luck with the electronics!

1owrez

Stan, thanks for the donation!

Did somebody say mountain?

JAR

Lowrez - all the very best of luck for the eventful week ahead, leave some in the tank for the Alan Parsons gig - can't have you snoozing through it!

Dubairunner

Lowrez, I have some chews, jellys and jelly beans for you. What else would you like, crisps or anything like that?

1owrez

Thanks Jar, haven't booked Alan Parsons yet, wasn't sure when I would get to Miami, did look at flights and was surprised I can't fly direct from Miami to Albuquerque or Tucson, so they are further epic 2 leg flights, which after 7 of the *uckers I was not wholly enamored with. After the last successful SpaceX test there might be the opportunity to hang out in Florida and see a live launch, so I have decided to keep options open.

Just purchased tickets for Van Der Graff Generator later this year!

That's amazing Dubai, thanks so much, yes, great idea re crisps, salt and vinegar please, they have just stressed the importance of taking enough salt in. Love prawn cocktail flavour too (if that's not being too cheeky!)