Comrades 2018

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  • Hi McHilly, I've not done CT at Comrades time but I know someone who did & he said the weather was pretty dreadful as it's getting to mid- winter so could ruin any chance of seeing Robbin island or Table mountain. There's so much to see north of Durban and the weather is much nicer
  • Comrades entry done today!  Now 'all' I need at this stage is to manage a qualifier - high hopes, but not necessarily great expectations, for the Robin Hood on the 24th!.
  • Mac3Mac3 ✭✭✭
    Best of luck with that Terry.  It would be great if you and Lowrez qualify early on to save us all the anguish we shared with you both for this year's qualification!
  • Mac3Mac3 ✭✭✭
    McH - as mentioned above, the weather in CT post Comrades is unpredictable.   I was there this year after the race and we had major thunderstorms and flooding.  2016 was fine.  It's a great place to be but quite a bit cooler than Durban.  This year I was camped out (not literally) in the wine region which is less than an hour by car to CT.  That was by choice so the weather didn't affect my plans too much.  Just stayed on for another glass or two........Glad you are in for 2018!
  • Terry48Terry48 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2017
    My commitment to Comrades has just increased, even though my ability still lags!

    I have today booked my flights - Birmingham to Jo'burg on 4th June, arriving Durban on the 7th flying Air France.  For info, cost was £437 booked with Budget Air, in case anyone else is starting to look at flights. 
  • That's a super price, Terry.  I've not done anything about flights yet.

    Got some good hill practice at Jungfrau Marathon.  Normally in a race, if there's a bit hill ahead I tell myself "it's no Inchanga" but that didn't really work this time as it was up and up then up and up again.  Brilliant that you got a Comrades qualifying time there last year Mac.  I wasn't pushing the pace because I didn't want this race to interfere with road marathon training ahead of Leicester.  I was on for sub 5 with about 4 miles to go but haha had absolutely no idea what those last few miles would be like and I ended up with 5:39.  

    I wrote a blog on Fetcheveryone if anyone is interested.  https://www.fetcheveryone.com/blog/16526/2017/9#blog372442
  • Wow Becca, I enjoyed your blog and got to understand your slow last km's!  That looks like a great race and your time was pretty good given the course profile and hazards.
  • Thanks Terry.  I'm glad that my overall pace was better than walking pace.
  • Becca: sorry; I'm not on Fetch so it won't let me read it.

    More than 14,000 places gone already. I can't remember, is that faster than usual?

    Cross-country relays for me tomorrow then 8-hour challenge on Sunday if I've not twisted an ankle or anything.

    Next Sunday (24th September) there's a rather nice low-key 5-mile XC called the Switchback 5 at Lloyd Park, Croydon, if anyone's interested! I'm the RD. Free tea, cake and a drawstring kitbag to all runners. £6/8 (affiliated/not) in advance or £8/10 on the day.

  • Good luck for your races, Debra. 

    Sarajevo half marathon for me this weekend. 

    I see you are famous now, lowrez. Superb fundraising mentioned in the Comrades news bulletin. 
  • Great running Becca - that fetch jiggy wants me to sign up, which I am reluctant to do, I think I am from the wrong era, why do I suspect them of ill intentions? All I want to do is read your blog, but they seem to want to leverage my collateral to feed their revenue streams? I want that revenue directed into my Race4Charity not their coffers! I am a bit embarrassed by the Comrades bulletin, it doesn't properly explain the circumstances of the donation at all; I didn't donate it, it wasn't in London, whilst there is a big clue in the picture about the company that made the donation the text is woefully inadequate... still a wonderful result for World Vision :)

    Good luck to all running this weekend :) 

  • Aha, sorry. I didn't realise you had to sign up to be able to read the blog. 
  • Debra BourneDebra Bourne ✭✭✭
    edited September 2017
    Autumn Ranscombe Challenge done - my Garmin gives me just under 37.5 miles in about 7 hrs 4 minutes (not sure 'cos I forgot to stop it!). I'll wait and see what the official results give. Legs tired on the last lap, but otherwise fine, and a lovely medal from SVN of course.
  • Yikes, didn't realise it was Ranscombe. That's a lot of miles around there. Well done. 

    Sarajevo was warm and with 1900ft elevation it wasn't the flat course they said it would be but enjoyable nonetheless. 
  • Becca, glad you enjoyed Sarajevo. It was my first time on the Ranscombe course - definitely some hills. :-)
  • Good running Becca and Debra, I continue to knock out some longer training runs, I managed a sub 3 hour 16 miler yesterday so clinging on to the hope that I can sub5 it in Detroit in 4 weeks time. Those extra 10 miles felt quite daunting yesterday though, terrible memories of all those attempts earlier this year and the "last 5 fade". In my favour I am doing more training, but it is still less than I should really complete to get the result I am after.

    I have some guilt in abandoning the Belaire Posse, but the Hilton have lowered their rates recently to a level that has enticed me away from you. Was that a cheer I just heard? Are you celebrating being rid of me? :) It just doesn't feel like Comrades without the Hilton. I have stayed there these last 3 years and love it. I will just have a longer walk home than usual after the finish, good for the legs I hear.

  • lowrez, sorry to lose you from the Belaire, but since "It just doesn't feel like Comrades without the Belaire" is how WE feel about it, I guess we understand!

    Well done on your training run. Try a "fast finish" long run or two to try to avoid that "fade"?

    My run to work this morning was sllloooow. But I plan to run back home again, and to repeat tomorrow - it's less than 10 weeks now to the start of the 10-in-10 so I have to get used to getting up and running on stiff/tired legs! On the plus side, (a) I don't have another event planned for 5 weeks (Betteshanger marathon/challenge - I hope to go sub-4 for the marathon then jog round the challenge the following day) so maybe I can start some strength training for my quads; (b) the courses for the 10-in-10 are flat or gently undulating, so I shouldn't be trashing my quads so much.

    Quads strength training suggestions?
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx6W2KTn8a8&feature=youtu.be

    Hi Debra, I recently received the above linked suggestions for quad strengthening from Claire, a member of my running club, Stamford Striders. It is she who presents the video. What do you think about these?

    For me, Comrades would also not be the same without Belaire.  I've stayed there every year since 2011.  They should give me an incentive discount for all the Comrades runners I've steered there over those years! :smile
  • Thanks Debra for alerting us that the entries are going fast.  16041 entries this morning and then 5 minutes later another 16 entries had been taken.  One of which is mine!  I can't recall them ever going so fast.  I wonder if the entry cap will be increased in later years with the change in the finish venues.  Hopefully we are never in a ballot system

    I'm planning to come to Comrades with my family and so the Belaire apartments are perfect for us.  I stayed there 2012 and 2015.  It does have a lift, which is very important on Sunday evening and Monday morning.

    I received the sad news of the passing of a very close friend of mine that I shared a flat with in Southsea for 3 years in my early 20s.  We used to do a lot of drinking and smoking and sadly he carried on with both.  So this has spurred me on to enter and get running again.  Entering now means I really have to get my leg sorted - I think with 5km twice per week, I may arrive to the start line a little undertrained.


  • Wow, entries have gone amazingly fast this year - like never before.  Just over 1,000 left and will surely close tomorrow or even overnight

    Anyone still planning to enter - do it very soon!
  • 18777 entries left at the moment out of 20000 available.  Looks like this will be a sell out by end of the weekend.  Normally it is only just selling out by end of November.  Those lurking, undecided or haven't got round to it had better enter! 
  • Terry: thanks for the exercise video. I'll start those as soon as my quads have recovered from Sunday's run. Went to yoga last night and at the start couldn't even get into child's pose - but I could by the end, so it was a worthwhile session.

    I can't believe how fast those Comrades entries are going either! I just double-checked that I'm on the entries list (after my experience finding out I was NOT on the entry list for my chosen marathon earlier this year, I'm a bit nervous). I noticed I'm in the "Masters" category now as I'll have turned 50 before the race.
  • After much procrastinating, got a text from a friend this evening to say they'd entered & there wasn't too many spots left. Forced the decision for me so just entered, looks like there are only 200 or so places left!

    Berlin marathon next Sunday should (all things going well) sort out my qualifying time.
  • Now 19813 entrants - less than 100 places left!
  • Entry cap has now been expanded to 21,500 and entries are currently sitting at 20,747.  Some SA guys unhappy as they need to wait for the end of the month until payday to enter and they would miss out
  • Bike It, I have a great smoking (although he had to sign on the dotted line to give up), drinking friend who had a triple heart bypass at the age of 40 (that's when they made him sign on the dotted line otherwise they wouldn't have sliced him open). Thankfully he is still with us, still drinking, within recommended levels, which I think may actually be part of his prescription to keep those re-routed tubes clear; he is now 55 with apparently no ill effects. I am sorry you lost your friend. Looking forwards to seeing you in Durban, I will definitely drop in on the Belaire at some point for a bite to eat - that has become a new tradition as of last year! Hope you can get that reluctant body back in to shape soon, keep chipping away, mine is slowly edging towards sub-5 marathon standard.

    Big eyes on Berlin jkissane - lots of Comrades going for that qualifier - I'm popping out to Detroit in a few more weeks to try for mine - must fill in that ESTA form!

    Love that video Terry; Claire does those drills with such ease, I am a geriatric in comparison. Makes me laugh when she says "don't let the knee go over the toe" - and it does every time she does it - I would wager nobody can do them without the knee going over the toe? What do the neighbours say every time her heads bobs up over their fence?

    This morning the stats list 20801 entries - I don't think the cap is automatic on the website!

  • This is the fastest take up of entries i have known.

    jkissane - doing berlin as well. Cant imagine for one minute we will bump into each other but will be wearing comrades cap and have comrades badges sown onto my running top. Have a great run.
  • > @marty74 said:
    > This is the fastest take up of entries i have known.
    >
    > jkissane - doing berlin as well. Cant imagine for one minute we will bump into each other but will be wearing comrades cap and have comrades badges sown onto my running top. Have a great run.

    Not sure if you've seen the "Comrades Runners at Berlin" facebook page set up by Bruce Hargreaves? There might be something organised on there. I bumped into him at a marathon in Ireland a few weeks back.

    Funny about the number being bumped up to 21500, I panicked needlessly last night so :smile:

    Thanks for the good wishes lowrez!
  • Interesting about the increase in the cap - not only have they increased it to 21,500, but any postal entries postmarked on or before today will be accepted too. So it could be quite a bit more crowded than usual.
  • Mc hilly...we did 4 days at Capetown thus year before the race and it was magical..beautiful weather, great views from table mountain and on our sunset cruise etc.  .a week later the storm came in and the cloud and mist were down for a few weeks....we are going to do the same again next year and hope we are lucky again
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