Comrades 2018

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Comments

  • Becca, if I don't get in through the charity route I will enter for Ridgeway 86 (last weekend in August) and hope that's sufficiently gnarly to qualify me for Lakeland 100. And/or try for Lakes in a Day 2018 (early October).

    lowrez, I have insufficient knowledge of the area to comment on the route. Maybe Terry can give some input?
  • Lowrez - I think they'll take your route but with a modification.  Instead of that left turn, they'll continue past Greyville race course to hit that main road and take the left there straight towards the stadium.   Reason:   road is wider, and they need to have some of the race in the city to encourage spectators.  Your route is too residential.
  • So the bets are on:-
    Is this what you meant Dannir :-

    Lowrez:-

    :)
  • Any more takers whilst I've got me highlight pen out?
  • That's quite an entrance to the stadium.  But is that steps I see?  That would be a bit cruel after 89km. 
  • There was plenty of cruelty in the approach to last year's finish BikeIT; a devlish underpass, rutted grasslands, a daft foot bridge over the final few hundred yards that looked like the finish line and even fooled Camille Herron into walking for a while and shaking hands with members in the crowd until a fellow runner prompted her to run on... it wouldn't be Comrades without finish daftness :) Hopefully they'll slap a few planks over those steps for us to trip over :)
  • Ok I'm in - whatever route and steps they throw at us! I'm another UK possie in Belaire - we must have it booked out by now! 
  • Well it would appear that I've entered  :)

    So.. just a bit of training to do. Running all seems to be very hard work at the moment, so am merely hoping to scrape by with a 5hr Yorkshire marathon for qualification rather than going for it. Then going to take some time off.

    I'm going to ignore all talk of adding extra km's on at the end :):)

    Dannirr - hows the knee after the operation?

    We'll have to have some lists going soon!
  • Here's a more radical option; would love to run the remote and sweeping M19 :)
  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭
    edited September 2017

    Seren, we have similar plans, I'll be hoping to slog out a 5 hour marathon in Detroit the week after Yorkshire - hmm Yorkshire? Doesn't sound very flat?

    Carmen, I put a Belaire pin on the map for the posse!

    Well done on the 4:55 and silverware Debra - have you looked at the calendar? Not sure if that fell within the qualification window?

    Good luck at the Robin Hood Terry!

  • Skipping Tollgate just seems so counter-intuitive!  
    In the last pic,  turning from Pinetown then running through New Germany, Reservoir Hills etc is a good bet... it does mean we divert past the last of the Big Five as we know them at present
  • Hello by the way... knee issues! I think I'm on the same plan as Bike It, few 5ks at a time  until I can string a block of weekly training together.  Hope all is well....I'll register over the weekend , they're already 2k down 


  • lowrez, oh, yes, qualification opened 27th October. I suppose technically I've qualified :-) - except I don't know if it would count as it's not a certified marathon course (well OVER the 26.2 miles - my Garmin made it 27). I'm planning on Betteshanger Marathon* on 21st October for my qualification, aiming for sub-4 for D-pen again, then jog round the trail course the following day (6-hour challenge) as a back-to-back: training for the 10-in-10 in November.

    * Registered marathon distance on the 2-mile tarmac cycle track.
  • Well after having a rubbish day at work at least i have done something nice by entering for next year :)

    Loving the new route ideas. Perhaps we need to get lowrez on the route committee??

    Good luck with the robin hood mara Terry.

    And welcome to all to the greatest run on earth :)
  • I'm watching route comments with interest but don't have time to contribute for a while.  Just home from a wedding near Newark today and off to a family wedding in Kent tomorrow!  Then, family from SA staying with us most of next week - so it will play havoc with my training for a week.  

    It's all very exciting and I plan to enter next week.  My Belaire slot was already booked back in June!  Thanks for the good wishes for the Robin Hood - I hope I can crack it.
  • SS - knee has mostly recovered well after surgery.  I've been running about 20-30 miles a week, but it has been hurting a bit more these past few days - which is a pity as I have Berlin marathon and Chicago marathon soon!  
  • Debra - i ran the ridgeway last year. Had a great time but wouldn't call it that difficult n terms of terrain, although running through the night made it tough.

    Dannir - hope your knee recovers well for Berlin. I'm doing that one this year as my planned qualifier.

    And re the route, can't believe they would sacrifice Cowies hill though. For me anyway, i love to run the route which everyone else in history has run, give or take a few variations here and there. The big five as i understand it have always been in there.
  • Thanks for that Lowrez. And the pin! 
  • trying to register for Comrades but it wont accept my championship number so stuck for the moment.....Also disappointed to see Starfish is not one of the official charities so will have to select a different one....Roman run 16 yesterday was  slow but survived...managed a recovery 4 today.....3 weeks until Loch ness..Just got to get my entry sorted.

    We had already booked into a hotel up the road from Belaire on the seafront so will stick with that one as my husband liked it :)

  • seren nos: good luck for Loch Ness.

    Black Hugin challenge yesterday evening (5 pm start and turning on the head torches once it got dark). Completed 10 laps so 33-34 miles, finishing about 10.15 (not sure exactly as I'd forgotten to re-charge my Garmin and it ran out during the last lap!). Got home very late (about 2am). Ran about 15 miles this morning, on the route of our usual Sunday morning club run but a couple of hours later and a couple of minutes per mile slower than usual! Aiming to run to work and back tomorrow - all part of getting used to long runs on several successive days ready for the 10-in-10 - which is now less than 12 weeks away (gulp).

  • Seren - ChampionChip No should be 7 digits. Mine goes; number, letter, letter, number, letter, letter, number. If you go to the championchip website you can log-on using your SAID which is a 13 digit number made up of your date of birth yymmdd followed by a 5 for a bloke - so I guess it will either be a 4 or a 6 for a woman and then six zeros - then you'll be able to confirm your championchip number

    Amazing miles Debra!

    I did 12 yesterday, so I've put in a 34 mile week in total from virtually zero, and the wheels haven't fallen off yet, got my marathon on 15th Oct. Hoping to go sub5.

  • Well done on that build-up, lowrez. Hope you can continue without injury.
  • Debra - well done. I've just done 20 and the last 5 were killers :#

    Seren - when I entered all my details were there automatically. Name, date of birth, address, passport number, championship number. Mmmmm.......so much for not keeping peoples data :o


  • Mac3Mac3 ✭✭✭
    G'day everyone.  I'm entered too, entry numbers creeping up.  Good to see that everyone's training is coming along.
    Lowrez - master of the lists, is it too early for a new one?!  I'm entered for the Amsterdam Marathon on 21 October.

    Becca7 - saw the Jungfrau marathon is this weekend.  Will be interested to hear what you make of it.  Enjoy the scenery and the elevation in the 2nd half! My time difference between the Jungfrau and qualifying marathon was about 1:20!
  • Thanks Mac, will be good hill practice at least and I'm mostly hoping just to stay ahead of the cut off times.  I think 1:20 difference is pretty good!
  • Oops, my time memory was off - just under 5:55 for the 10 laps/32.5 official miles, from the official results (and fifth in the results/highest woman, although that's probably because many of the runners were running a marathon on the Sunday).

    Ran to work and back and the legs felt okay. Then I sat down for dinner and my right knee screamed; no idea what's going on there but I'll try a couple of days of rest.

    SS: Thanks; I'm finally reaching where I've wanted to be in terms of fitness: able to run marathon distance or longer any weekend. Now I need to keep at this level and improve my ability to run long distances consecutive days - and not get injured (let's hope the knee is just a blip). :-) Hope your training is going well also.

    (All the data was there for me as well.)
  • right ... finally managed to get in.just need to pick a charity...... and get a qualifying time


  • Early leader in the Race4Charity; dead chuffed that the National Director of World Vision South Africa dropped in to where I work today to accept the cheque for R65,915 :)
  • Entry done :smile: Just need to get through next week's running holiday (runiceland) without my achilles niggle (which i've been trying to ignore for months, becoming an injury).... then see a physio, get niggle fixed, maybe rest a bit and then get fit. Looking forward to returning to Comrades, having done back to back I decided to give 2017 a miss, and regretted it!
    Has anyone tried adding on a few days around CapeTown either before or after Comrades? I'm considering it, so would be great if anyone has a tour organiser they can recommend
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