Comrades 2019

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  • Well done on the 50K Debra, and Terry getting round the HM. I'll take the advice and email random people in SA with my UKA letter and hope it lands in the right inbox :). I ran the Rhayader Round The Lakes 30K race on Saturday. Very tough first few miles up a mountain (well it seemed like a mountain but may technically have been a hill  :D ) plus horrendous headwinds on parts of the course, but beautiful round the Elan valley. Managed to average 8:10 miles which I was very pleased with, but the dreaded cramp struck in the last mile which allowed a guy from my club to pip me in the last 100m  :'(! We then 'wasted' all the burnt calories by eating vast amounts of steak and chips and drinking most of the gin in Rhayader...oh well. Anyone doing the Ashby 20 in a couple of weeks? 
  • As a postscript, it may have been the hangover (apparently Rhayader has the highest pub to population ratio in the UK), but as I was eating breakfast the Scooby Doo Mystery machine appeared to drive slowly past the window! I wondered afterwards if it contained runners from the race. Has anyone else spotted them at a race??
  • Debra BourneDebra Bourne ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019
    Terry, sorry to hear the Cambridge Half didn't go as well as hoped.
    Max, thank you. Envy for the speed of your 30K (and despite the headwinds and hills!) - I can't manage that for a mile at the moment, sadly. Sounds like you had some lovely views as well.
  • TCPTCP ✭✭✭
    Thanks marty.  Sent my email off to those addresses.  Fingers crossed.
  • lowrez, sympathies - your reaction to this seems to be very similar to my reaction to being told that several of the marathons that I've run totally on road don't count as 'road marathons' for the 100-marathon club. Frustrating, isn't it? :-(
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭

    Well done on another ultra Debra; I have just, on a whim, because the fake news outlet alerted me to it, so it can't be all bad, entered the K2B. I was born in the "B" so its not a surprise banter about it was on the fake news outlet. This one requires you to be in a team of 10 to take part, my better 9 are all associated with Animal Refuge Furness, my team captain is head of the refuge. They appear to be astounded that I have dropped in from the firmament completing their team and that I will be "running" it. The K2B is mainly a sponsored walk about local charity. The refuge will get two thirds of what I collect, the rest going towards staging the event and other core charities associated with it. A vast army of volunteers gather to stage this event. I have run this 3 times back in the 70s before marathons were proper big, before London was thought of, its where my running roots lie. I don't know why I haven't been back since. The team that support me on daft ultras are going to support me on this, they are sniggering down their sleeves at what a walk in the park it will be; I have had to remind them that this is The Lake District and on a bad day its bloody serious work so no lollygagging is allowed!

    I am sure I can guide the IAAF to provide me with a letter of disdain :) If not, I reflect on how the K2B could become an easier annual pilgrimage; I paid for Comrades on MasterCard; I'm sure they would be sympathetic in providing me a refund due to the T&C having been moved from under my feet this year...

  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭

    Max, I love the steak and chips bit :)

    Terry; will you be out supporting Debra and I at Boston? Looking forward to when we can run marathons with you again, it was brilliant to finally catch up with you in the finishing chute with Running Rodent at London last year. I know that wasn't strictly how my support for you was meant to pan out :) but it felt like "A Mountie always gets his man" moment even though strictly speaking I had run out of road by then :)

    I am visiting Salford University fashion dept on Wednesday; they have signed up to producing the Gay Ellis costume I plan to run in at London this year :)

  • Terry48Terry48 ✭✭✭
    Lowrez, about Boston Marathon - that's a 'maybe'.  I'll let you know before the event so as not to miss you and Debra if I'm there!
  • Bike ItBike It ✭✭✭
    Greetings Everyone,

    My hip is a bit better and I'm putting in a few km now.  I had to DNS the Vaal Marathon last weekend as it would be much too much at this stage.  Good to see others are much more prepared than I and putting in some good performances.

    Of course the irony is not lost on me of being a paid up SA club member and ASA affiliated member, running as a 'South African' as per ASA rules for SA Permanent Residence holder, but entered (by Comrades themselves) as an International Runner as I do not have an SA ID number so far.  Now I am being asked for a letter from my home Athletics Association which would be England Athletics.  I now have no idea of which 'rules' I will have to adhere to - whether it will be SA club or Union Jack - of course the only important thing is can I carbo load on the International Area biscuits at the Expo?




  • Bike ItBike It ✭✭✭
    Having read the FB post of Dave Ross,  I'm mailing ASA (Athletics South Africa) for their clearance letter
  • Bike ItBike It ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019
    If you are not on the list you can't come in...

    https://athletics.org.za/international-athletes-with-approval-to-participate-in-south-africa/

    Basically no international athlete was properly cleared to compete Comrades in 2017 according to ASA.  (Except a Russian banned by their own federation)

    Time to send those Olympic medals back as this is the list of SA athletes cleared to compete internationally by ASA:

    https://athletics.org.za/south-africa-athletes-with-permission-to-participate-abroad/


    Another excellent example of a aspirational rule that is to be upheld but is completely unmanageable end-2-end in South Africa.

    (Actually I'm sure that the top International Comrades atheletes would have got those letters and submitted them to Comrades, but they just don't make it onto the ASA list)



  • Terry, I do hope we'll be seeing you at Boston, even if not running.
    Bike it, glad to hear your hip is improving
  • Max.. I was at Rhayder... I love that race...Hip playing up a bit since and struggling with training and work and uni assignments...and some other problems/..but booked the whole south Africa trio now and have chosen the 3 parkruns we are hoping to do
  • How did you get on at Rhayader seren? That wind was brutal :#. Hope the hip clears up and you can get into the Comrades training groove soon.
  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    I did Rhayader a couple of years ago and there was a snow storm on the top of the big hill, which was quite memorable.  Good luck with the hip and everything else.

    Tokyo Marathon was great for me.  An absolutely excellent place to visit.  The couch stretches seem to have done the trick and the Friendship Run the day before ended up being the most comfortable run I'd had in months so I wasn't stopping to take any selfies, as everyone else was doing.  This is really a race for lowrez, as is the marathon, as so many people dress up and I wasn't sure what half of the costumes were, so lowrez would definitely blend.  :p

    The marathon went very well and, although it was a time about 40 minutes slower than I would have been aiming for as a Comrades qualifier, it was good in the circumstances (having been injured most of the time since July) and 4:16 moves me up a pen.
  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    Well done becca. Sounds like everything is coming together nicely.
  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    Well done becca. Sounds like everything is coming together nicely.
  • Great to hear you are feeling good Becca, and well done on the marathon in Tokyo, 4:16 is a pretty good time on little training. Are you going to go for one more pen, or call it a day on quailification? I've got the Stratford Shakespeare marathon in April, but to be honest the next pen is out of my range at the moment! Boston (US) qualifying on the other hand..... is a definite/maybe kind of target
  • Running RodentRunning Rodent ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019
    Oh dear, this seems to be turning into the same mass fret that the Paris medcert causes every year :( . A further option - I’m not a member of a running club but I am an affiliated member of Scottish Athletics (gets me the UKA discount at races). They’ve done me a letter, which has worked for people in previous years. 
  • Debra - well done on last weeks 30k and this weekends 100. Seems like a long way to run!!!

    Terry - well done at Cambridge half. You might have been disappointed but I think it was an excellent run considering your lack of training and heart issues. Keep it up :)

    Bike It - glad the hips coming along. Hope you manage to sort out which nationality Comrades would like you to be. Hope they sort it out quicker than they did your postal entry :/

    Becca - great run inTokyo. Well done.
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019

    Some of you out there know how stubborn I can get, and I'm digging in for warfare here. I'm not joining a club, I'm not affiliating myself with any bodies, except Sigourney Weaver's. At the moment it looks like I'm going to have a nice weekend sitting on the beach eating ice-cream in Durban and probably never visiting ever again after that.

    Becca, that was a mighty fine run in Tokyo :) on Wednesday afternoon I visited Salford Uni and they are going to make me the Gay Ellis outfit in time for London, unless of course the IAAF insist I must become affiliated to run that. It might even be ready for Boston Lincs, unless of course the IAAF insist I must become affiliated to run that, and so the dog chases its tail ad infinitum...

    Bike It - I love those lists - what a consistent world this is :)

    Ahh Rhayader 

  • lowrez, don't be daft! You have a bit of time, so sulk now, get over it and get sorted! Contact David Ross directly for a proforma?
  • The welsh athletics doesn't quite know what they should be doing. next week i will ring them again and email them a copy of the english form... :).. I'm wondering if the delay is they are waiting for a Welsh translation. Still no rush yet..
    Rhayader was the windiest i have known it... like swimming up stream... mad but amazing

  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    I have tried to resolve this Debra, contacted EA as originally advised by David Ross assuring me that EA will provide a letter confirming I am not affiliated but they will not prevent me from running. The response was a counter quote from David Ross from the EA stating that I should do no such thing and that EA would not issue letters to non-affiliates under any circumstances and that I should not be mithering the EA! And I have e-mailed David Ross asking what the **** is going on and why Comrades are so inept and I've had no response! 

    I'm not on Bike It's list, and it doesn't seem there is a way to get on it without cow towing to the IAAF and they can take a running jump, under licence of course.

    I like Slow Duck's perspective, it's just straight racketeering, pay up your protection money or something nasty might happen. I hear Sepp Blaater is being considered as the next president of the IAAF.
  • Mc HillyMc Hilly ✭✭✭
    Lowrez, it’s not that different from some European countries eg Italy, where you need either a competition licence from your home federation or alternatively some (expensive) medical cert and ecg! Luckily I had the EA affiliation, but you had suggested an alternative approach to the med cert? Could you not use similar approach for letter? (If you decided to join a club you get £2 of each uk race and often a 10pc discount in running store so tends to pay for itself)
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    I know that's the easy way out McH :) but I am being Thomas More 🤣
  • Lowrez - I know this isn't a money issue but a principle. We all have them and you're not the only one that can be stubborn. For now just take a deep breath, carry on training and don't make any decisions.

    Debra - do your legs (quads) not get tired with all your running? Is it just a case that with the more you do the easier it is on them? Been doing lots of running even putting squats in. 5 weeks to go but 262 miles in 10 days still seems like a lot :/
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Strava will look a bit empty for me lately SS as my watch isn't charging properly (yes, that's a good one 1owrez, they know you don't have a dog so you can't say it ate it). I am seeing some wonderful mileage from you; brilliant seeing you build to that 10 in 10 :) Thanks for the calming perspective :)
  • It's scarily close. So you are still running then Lowrez? Wondered why you weren't on strava.
  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    Come on lowrez, take the easy option and take the stress out of life. Waiting for a resolution before the 5th May will take some bottle....sure one will turn up though since there must be hundreds of non affiliated runners.

    Had lovely run today at the Amersham 50k or 29 miles or 30 miles by my watch depending on which website you use!!! Lovely trail event. Spoke to some Comrades runners again including one i hadn't seen for 2 years!! Small world....

    Keep running round in those very small circles Debra and i'm sure you will get to 100. Top work.
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