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Anyone staying in the Hilton got a Comrades visor they want to swap for a cap? They dont seem to be doing it at the expo?
Pg3 blog for 2014 down maybe help you and others. You don't want to stop for the toilet.
See you all in the international tent tomorrow. Don't forget your wrist band.
Finished!...The tour
Thanks FRC. I will read now.
Lowrez haven't had chance to say hi yet and have gone to bed in the hope of getting some sleep. Lex and I will be at breakfast at 2 and we are going to walk over to the bus at 2.45. You (and anyone else) are welcome to join. I will have a pink hoodie on and my comrades bag has a patch on it.
Will also be down for 2:45-50 but it's pretty close and loads of buses.
Just wanted to say good luck to everyone. I hope everyone has an awesome race or at least makes it to the finish line before 5.30pm . This forum has made the race build up much more fun (and distracting during work hours).
got my visor sorted. In room porridge for me tmrw, but will see people in Hilton reception at 02:45 to head to bus.
I'll be in the lobby 2:45 too, but just a quick good luck to everyone and thank you for your friendship in the buildup.
Have a good race everyone:
before the start be humble
in the first half be smart
in the second half be tough
after the finish be happy
Hope everyone had a good day on the road. I went out a bit too ambitiously and paid for it in the last 30km. I had to settle for my B goal of beating my PB. Held it together enough to come home in 6:39. This damned down run is just too much for me to figure out!
I had a very tough day battling against cut-offs, almost out lbw at Drummond, and finished somewhere around 11:58 - need to look it up properly.
Will await other reports eagerly. Currently in hotel room whimpering in agony - every time I try and stretch something I get massive cramp in my feet - think I'm dehydrated. Really trying to get to the bar suspect everyone is celebrating in there. Down definitely way more technically demanding than the up in my opinion
I got my sub 10 and it was great to run a few miles with John and, later, Douglas, who has posted on these threads in previous years. I'm out of here tomorrow morning, so won't make it to any of the "day after" socials.
Well done Warren, super time.
Last chance saloon but you got it done, lowrez.
Unfortunately missing brekkie tomorrow as decided to do a day safari ( and not due to get back till 6:30 or 7:30, so probably too late to meet up for dinner if anyone's still around) so if I don't see you all before id apart Tue pm, safe travels everyone
well done warren, cracking effort. Am going to the aches and pains party tomorrow so might see you there?
Brilliant lowrez. You timed it to perfection. Those last few minutes were pretty intense.
well done becca on your sub 10. another mile may have seen us run together?!! Safe travels tomorrow.
have fun at your safari Mc Hilly. you have earned that.
As for me, 9.57 and had best time ever running with the 10 hour bus most of the way. The buses get so much support on route.
Hope rest of rew had equally successfull runs.
Pg3, lex and dannirr - I was a right sloth getting ready. When I finally got to the lobby it was almost 3 - I assumed you'd made the right executive decision to go get your bus. Mine ended up getting overtaken by all other traffic it was so ancient and we all had to bail out in residential pm and run to the start! It was a massive emotional relief to finally walk up to pen c singing shosoloza. Hope your trip was better!
Good going everyone. Lowrez!! Are you nuts! That is 100% cutting it fine. Its a long way to come to living on the edge like that!
I finished 8:27 and got my back to back. 1 hour improvement on last years time. Silver next year if I can train on any hills..
I still cant believe its finished. I was going to say I loved every miniute but i didnt. There were some sketchy sections along the way where I had to dig deep to keep going..
Well done once again, Comrades..
Congrats lowrez on just beating the cutoff, I bet you must have been bricking it in the last kilometres. I watched the final half hour on SA TV. It was really emotional watching the runners getting cut off at the end like that. There were a couple of ladies who were out on their feet and were getting carried to the finish line by some of the other runners. I'm not sure if either of them made it though, and the runners that helped them may have lost out on their medals to help them.
Congrats to WarrenK78, Becca7 and marty74 too. Here's my mini-report from the race...
I had a rough day at the office. It started off well enough, with me running a fast but easy effort and on target to get a silver medal. But I quickly fell apart at the bottom of Fields Hill. I could no longer run in a straight line. A well placed medic at the bottom of the hill saw i was in distress, rushed over, quickly determined I was dehydrated and pretty much force-fed me a couple of bottles of sport drink. But the enforced walk break did not agree with my muscles and I immediately cramped up when I started running again. The cramps did eventually die down and I ended up run/walking (emphasis on walking) to finish the race, with an official gun time of 8:23:58 which earned me a Bill Rowan medal. I'm pretty happy with that but sad I couldn't get the silver medal I wanted.
P.S. Yes the buses were awfully slow. The traffic in Pietermaritzburg was crazy. And weren't the starting pens insane! Runners climbing over the fences or surging through gaps in the fence, with the end result of getting packed in like sardines. I was glad when the cannon went off. But even then there was an awful lot of pushing from behind.
Can't leave these shores without meeting Lowrez. ????
I'm leaving these shores without meeting lowrez, again, in spite of both of us being at the Hilton last year, as I recall! A shame that we missed you at the start, lowrez - SD, Marty and I were all together near the back and we were joined by McH when the tapes were lifted. But if you only got there during Shosholoza we had moved forward when the tapes into B were lifted.
Well done lambkin, a good result in the circumstances. And well done JAR on a very good bronze.
Without stealing Cashford's thunder, I'm in awe of his rookie performance!
Great result coming in regardless of absolute time - great performances taking account of our individual capabilities
Well it was not as bad as it could have been nor was it as good as it could have been. The recent problems with my left leg progressively worsened during the run. I set off at pace for a 8:30 finish and felt very aerobically comfortable. I was on-track timewise, but left leg not doing well until the top of Fields when it went completely. I vainly tried to run sections, but it had to done at a walk. I couldn't get back to a run in Pinetown either - just too much pain despite being aerobically fine and ready for the last kms. In the end I had to limp the last 24km home from the top of Fields. I finished in 10:24 in the end.
Anyway, I'm happy with a finish today. Better than the DNS or DNF that it could have been which looked more realistic at the start of the week.
And yes there was a new male record in today's run by a guy with a 2:14 marathon. Also controversy as Caroline Worsmann in the lead was hit by a motorbike and finished in second in the end
Well done all
I too had a tough day. Was on target for mu goal of sub11 until about Fields Hill, but iI knew long before that it wants going to be. My legs were hurting from 25k. So, in at 11:25 and I'm happy, but sore!
Lowez - nice clip of you at the finish - fast forward to almost the very end
https://youtu.be/szLACkXTW10