Comrades 2021

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  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    Nice set of medals Lorez, hope you have found your 2017 comrades one.

    Nothing to report from me, just checking in and hoping everyone is staying safe. I see a few of the smaller races are starting up again but at a very reduced rate with people. Hopefully, more will follow. I've decided to follow my same schedule as last year so have just recovering since the virtual comrades. Some hill work starts for me next week though and am looking forward to running a bit quicker again.

    Hope the NDW100 gang are enjoying their well deserved taper. I look forward to hearing about the run goes with the new covid-19 precautions in place.

    Take care all.
  • Marty, I am hoping to go to Nepal first week November. I love running outside Kathmandu. It’s just opening up so fingers crossed.
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Not found 2017 yet Marty, but, if I recall correctly that was the bag that got chucked in a corner as soon as I arrived home due to other issues and it lay there for an entire year lost and forgotten until I needed to find my chip again. That took several days of discovery until I found my unwashed kit, clothes, running shoes etc from the previous year, so, I am guessing the medal is safely stashed somewhere I haven't re-disturbed yet.

    Wow Kathmandu sounds incredible Dubai! My passport is about to expire and our government website says not to even think about renewing unless I have definite travel plans. I have just booked the City Wok, I mean City Lodge hotel @ £68 per night minus breakfast with free cancellation up until the day I arrive. All other hotels seem to be available, but pricey, best I could get for The Hilton was £135 which is higher than I want but I will keep an eye out for a price cut. Belaire is listing at over £100 - never stayed and would have gone for it if cheaper - isn't it usually less?

    I haven't run in over a month, I've put on weight, "forgotten" to do my physio, and feel great :D better buck my ideas up though otherwise I will be dnfing again and not qualifying at London! Great to see NDW100 still on :) love the Actik Core for a headlamp.

    Famous all over again here

    Hope everyone is doing well!
  • Debra BourneDebra Bourne ✭✭✭
    edited July 2020
    Dubairunner: good luck for your Kathmandu trip.
    Lowrez: good luck for finding your 2017 medal... and well done on the fundraising. Thanks for that tip about accommodation - I must look again tomorrow. And yes, Belaire prices have nearly doubled, sadly.
    Feeling a bit frustrated because in 78 miles of running during this past week, including 31 miles NDW & Vanguard Way yesterday (and finding the highest point in Croydon on Thursday - a whole 575 ft above sea level), I didn't even reach 8000 ft of ascent. I'd really thought I could reach the Three Peaks in the Centurion OneUp challenge while sticking to my training schedule, but I'm more than 2,000 feet off that. Worrying now that I've not done enough hills in training for NDW100 in general. At least I've discovered I can wear my new headlamp (LEDLenser Neo 10R) for several hours in reasonable comfort - next I need to actually try it out in the dark.
  • baldstanbaldstan ✭✭✭
    Debra, well done on the 8,000 feet though, that's still massive when all your runs have been around south London and Surrey. I also think Garmin's elevation count isn't always reliable. I've noticed when I've run hill repeats that the height of a 30 metre hill can vary by 5 metres on Garmin within the same session. 
    I've only managed 3 miles in the last week (with about 1 metre of ascent, but then I was on the track) as my groin pain hasn't gone away. Finally went to see the physio today and after a thorough assessment she said the good news is that it's not a hernia or osteitis pubis (which Dr Google had suggested it could be), but it is adductor tendinopathy and I shouldn't run on it until the pain has gone away, so NDW100 looks to be off for me, unless I can make a miraculous recovery in the next week. Disappointed, especially as my number (33) arrived in the post on Wednesday and I was looking forward to being able to take part in a real race. I'll certainly be following you and Snail on the Centurion tracker during the day, if you let me know your numbers, and will hope to recover and get back into training for the SDW50 in October. 
  • Debra BourneDebra Bourne ✭✭✭
    edited July 2020
    baldstan, no! Sympathies and how disappointing for you. Wishing you a very speedy recovery. Adductor tendinopathy does sound like it could take a while, and sometimes (as when I had my pelvic stress fracture) rest is the only thing to do.
    I've ordered a tracker (only £12 and my stepmother likes to follow and see what I'm doing) so should be fully followable at https://tracking.racedirector.co.uk. My race number is 98.
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Damn Stan! That is such bad luck, there are so few races about, and, long un's like this take a lot of preparing for. But absolutely the right thing to recover properly so you can have a proper go at another later.

    Ooo! A tracker! I can get the beer in and shout at the screen! Good luck Debra and Snail! Are there any bookies accepting bets?
  • Baldstan - sympathies with the injury. Sensible decision though as its obviously not a walk in the park. But that must be disappointing so close. I didn't know they did a tracker. Off to sort it out now.

    Debra - you'll be fine next weekend. You're definitely well trained. Ive done nowhere near the amount of hill training that you have, although I'm sure you're aiming for a topspin whereas I'm aiming for beating the cutoffs  :)

    Lowrez - Enjoy the beer. Looks like temperatures at the moment are forecast for over 30 degrees  B)

    I'm number 61
  • Debra - that link doesn't show NDW100 for the tracker. Can't see anything on their website 
  • Ive just found the tracker website so have contacted them. Hope there's enough time to get one.
  • Snail, if you don't hear tomorrow then contact Chris Mills directly using the details I emailed to you. Should be enough time. I only knew because a clubmate was asking about it on the Centurion Running Community FB page.
  • NEW JOB! I'm delighted to say that I'm now officially the Editor of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases.

    It's great to be taking the skills I've gained editing in the last 5+ years back into working in wildlife diseases.

    And in honour of lowrez, here's an appropriate journal cover.

  • Congratulations on the new job Debra and cool picture. Although I think it's only you and me for the time being doing any 'tapiring!'

    Good luck Saturday. I imagine you'll be off before me. I'm aiming for 6.30am and you'll be long gone by the time I get to the finish line  :)
  • Debra BourneDebra Bourne ✭✭✭
    edited August 2020
    Snail, thanks. I'm aiming to set off about 6am.
    Yes, it's a great photo - wish it was one of mine! But I guess I will get to choose the cover photo, as Editor. :smile:
  • baldstanbaldstan ✭✭✭
    Congratulations Debra. How long before you get to put another tapir on the cover? June 2021? And I thought I saw somewhere that you had a fundraising page for the NDW100, but I can't find it on justgiving or virgin money giving. As I've just cancelled my hotel in Farnham for the night before I should put that money to some good use.
    Also pleased to say my refund from the Belaire came through last week, just saw it on my credit card statement. Still going to hold off booking for next year though.
    Good luck Debra and Snail. I will be cheering your dots on.
  • Nice one Debra!

    Getting a bit excited about NDW100 - not running it but course marking from the start to Newlands Corner. Good luck! Hoping none of you go off course!
  • Debra BourneDebra Bourne ✭✭✭
    edited August 2020
    Fundraising: I'm fundraising for WVI - Wildlife Vets International (https://www.wildlifevetsinternational.org/)  in running NDW100.
    They provide veterinary expertise, training etc. to assist numerous conservation projects every year, with projects involving endangered species from tigers and Amur leopards to hawkbill turtles and Mauritian wildlife.
    If you can make a donation, however small, to help their work, please do so: http://bit.ly/WVIDonate
    This will go to work such as: disease monitoring in release projects; improving local wildlife rehabilitation; identifying and mitigating effects of predators on livestock.
    (Photo credit Jessica Bodgener)

  • baldstan: glad your refunds are coming through okay.
    Slowduck: thank you in advance for the course marking. There are quite a few official NDW signs missing, broken, obscured by vegetation, or ambiguous (could be pointing to either of two paths), so the extra marking for race day is really, really helpful.
  • Terry48Terry48 ✭✭✭
    Debra, congratulations on the new job.

    Debra and SS - go well on your big upcoming event. I've seen that you've been doing loads of good training.
  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    Debra - great news re your new job. Well done.

    Baldstan - sorry to hear about you not making the start line for the NDW100. You know in the long run it's the right decision. Still hard to watch the race unfold on Saturday though...

    Debra and SS - good luck for this weekend. I will be thinking of you both and following you online!!! Looks like it will be a tad warm as well so keep drinking!!! Dare I ask what both of your targets are for the race or are they a secret???

    As for booking hotels for next year's Comrades, I'm going to hold off until they officially announce a date. The way it's looking at the moment, I unfortunately can't see it happening next year either. Clearly hope I'm wrong though....

    Stay safe everyone...
  • Marty, I'm holding off on booking a hotel as well - unless I can go for full refund... which is hard on the hotels in these circumstances of course.
  • Marty, Debra - I’m holding off too because I’m not sure 2021 will happen (...and because I’m still waiting for my Onomo hotel refund...).
  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    Congrats on the job Debra, it sounds ideal.

    Good luck Debra and Snail for the NDW.  Commiserations to Stan.
  • Thanks all - have to say I'm a little nervous as have never run further than Comrades but still excited. Marty, we have 30 hours for the race and I'm just aiming for a finish. I will be ecstatic with that.

    Slow Duck - Thanks for the signage. It's most definitely needed!! My refund from Onomo came through automatically without me even asking. I was assuming I wouldn't get anything as it was non refundable. It was booked with Agodo through Booking.com

    Also haven't rebooked a hotel as not sure whats happening next year  :/
  • Snail, don't rush (particularly given the temperature forecast), don't linger at the aid stations, keep eating, drinking and making forward progress until you reach the finish line. I'm intending to use ProPlus if/when I get sleepy during the night, hope that will prevent me slowing down too badly.
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Wow Debra well done on the job - love how that gnat evolved into a fish into a goose into a stag. So are you working on how to stop bats in Chinese blood markets passing on covid to humans, or is the answer simply to stop blood markets?

    Hope you and Snail are enjoying your tapir, that is a fantastic picture, maybe you could schedule one in for June 2021!

    Marty - I thought June 13th had been declared? I think at the end of the shenanigans on shifting the date this year the CMA said there isn't actually the potential to hold it at any other point in the year? My booking with the City Wok, I mean City Lodge, through hotels.com didn't take any dosh and I can cancel it up to 12th June... as usual I am scanning The Hilton once in a while with the objective of booking cheaply there instead.

    SD glad to hear the route is being marked - I know the trail is an absolute devil to navigate in many places especially where conurbations have sprawled across it. Locals seem to have these false images in their minds, they know the route passes through somewhere, but they've probably never set foot on it, so when you ask out of desperation they'll give you this woolly perspective which you try and follow and end up miles off course.

    This is an epic undertaking - stepping into the unknown for both of you - there should be a documentary made on it - I've got a video cam, and I'm on holiday, can I come down and make a record of this incredible event? I can see it now; the camera pans down from a sun blazing into the shady canopy of trees descending onto a narrow path, a David Attenborough like voice whispers "Tapirs are wide-ranging animals, moving great distances between various kinds of habitats as they travel from forest patch to forest patch, providing a functional link between them..." a rustling sound causes the camera to pan through 180 degrees and Debra nimbly prances by, gone in a second. Attenborough whispers "and here we see an even rarer species; a human ultra-runner, confident, mad as a hatter, a fleeting visitor to the tapir's habitat..." I can start with SD putting route markings out at some ungodly hour and finish with SS triumphantly emerging from the undergrowth to break the tape with seconds to spare...

    Donation made Debra, but I was unsure whether your link involves a processing fee so I toddled off to a place where I know for sure that 100% of a direct donation gets to the charity, you can also be completely anonymous about it so there is no future pursuit for more funds (although I think they should cease the barbaric practice of painting dogs!)...

    Good luck everyone - SS have you wazzed up a charity page or do you have a favourite charity I can donate to too?
  • baldstanbaldstan ✭✭✭
    1owrez, can't wait for your documentary. You could get Jon Culshaw to do it if Sir David's isn't available. And it's just in the US isn't it, where they paint dogs, or has it reached parts of the UK? Certainly not seen it around Tooting Common, but then a Staffie wouldn't take kindly to being painted.
    Just checked the Comrades website again and couldn't see an official date for 2021 there, so it looks like they still haven't confirmed it as June 13th, even though that's the one all the tour companies are advertising.
    SD, it's going to be hot doing the course marking, hope you can keep cool. If it's any use the two places I got lost when I recced that section (and I blame myself for both) were passing the old quarry soon after leaving Farnham (the Harvey map means you're looking out for a turning on the left and I turned too soon, down the side of the quarry, as the footpath sign points that way, the OS map is much clearer) and then descending St Martha's Hill after Guildford where there are so many tracks and the most well-used one leads to the car park not to the bend in the road.
    Debra, Snail, the forecast is currently predicting a warm, clear night on Saturday, so hopefully you won't need any extra layers, and it won't be too tricky following the markings. Good luck.
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    London cancelled and 2021 will run on 3rd October!
  • Mc HillyMc Hilly ✭✭✭
    Just catching up on the news on here, could luck to those doing NDW sounds like an awesome challenge and could be a hot one, but you’ve done the training so you’re in great shape, I shall investigate how to follow online and look forward to the Lowrez documentary!
    i haven’t thought about Comrades next year, if it happens I’ll probably plan to go  but will leave booking until nearer the time (but would book if saw good Hilton rate with free cancellation).....
    I entered Boston UK mara in spring this year to use as a qualifier for this year’s Comrades.... it got rescheduled  and looks as if is still going ahead on 13th September.... I’m thinking I’ll probably do it,  anyone else thinking of it? I’ve also entered a few CTS marathons later this year with small numbers and there locations I’m really looking forward to these   
  • S Snail - agree with Debra about lingering at check points. NDW was my first 100 (back in 2013) - I timed out at Detling(80 miles) because I had spent far too long lingering at check points (10 - 15 mins at each and over 30 mins a Knockholt).

    baldstan - thanks for the pointers - always good to hear where people had difficulties so that I can mark it up a bit more prominently.
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