I appreciate there are several Harrogate parkrunners thinking about heading out to do the Comrades in either 2014 or 2015. Here's my perspective on this years uphill run; hope this inspires in some way...

Run report Comrades 2013: an ‘up run’.

A little bit of history...

The Comrades was run for the first time on 24 May 1921 (Empire Day), and with the exception of a break during World War II, has been run every year since. The 2013 event was the 88th race.
The race was the idea of World War 1 veteran Vic Clapham, to commemorate the South African soldiers killed during the war. Clapham, who had endured a 2,700km route march through sweltering German East Africa, wanted the memorial to be a unique test of the physical endurance of the entrants. The constitution of the race states that one of its primary aims is to "celebrate mankind's spirit over adversity".

The race is run on the roads of KwaZulu-Natal Province between Durban & Pietermaritzberg, marked by "The Big Five" set of hills. On the up run [87km / 54 miles] they appear in the following order: Cowies Hill, Fields Hill, Botha’s Hill, Inchanga & finally Polly Shortts. The uphill features approx 7000ft of climb and 5000ft of descent. Approximtely 50km of the run is predominantly uphill with 13km predominantly downhill. On alternative years the Comrades is a down run [89km / 56 miles]. The downhill is generally quicker, but harder on the legs.

Athletes currently have 12 hours to complete the course. There are a number of cut-off points along the routes which runners must reach by a prescribed time or be forced to retire from the race.

Medals are awarded to all runners completing the course in under 12 hours. Medals are currently awarded as follows:
Gold medals: The first 10 men and women.
Wally Hayward medals (silver-centred circled by gold ring): 11th position to sub 6hrs 00min
Silver medals: 6hrs 00min 01sec to sub 7hrs 30min.
Bill Rowan medals (bronze-centred circled by silver ring): 7hrs 30min to sub 9hrs 00min.
Bronze medals: 9hrs 00min to sub 11hrs 00min.
Vic Clapham medals (copper): 11hrs 00min to sub 12hrs 00min.

The greatest Comrades runner of all time [9 wins] is Bruce Fordyce, now CEO of parkrun South Africa.

This years run

If you’ve read this far, then you’ll gather there’s a great deal of history to the Comrades. It is truly one of the greatest races on the planet, and the entry limit for this incredible 54 mile uphill journey is not 50 runners, not 100, not even 500, but 18,000....an incredible international mix of global athletes, but with a heavy emphasis on African runners and specifically local Zulu from the KwaZulu & Natal province.

We had the good fortune this year to spend some time with Bruce Fordyce at Durban parkrun on the saturday ahead of the run. Generous with his time, advice and spirit, Bruce was fantastic to spend time with but he very clear in what he had to say as his parting words: “Respect the course”. These words were to echo in my ears the whole of the following day....

With a 12 hr time limit, and it gets dark pretty early in S Africa this time of year, the race starts at 5.30am. Difficult to really do justice to the countdown unless you’ve been there, standing amongst Zulu singing Shosholoza, often referred to as South Africa’s second national anthem but here’s a taste from this years start line..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A8bdUGTv5A

A broader view of the start can be seen in both of these You Tube clips; quite fabulous.

The determining factor...

Which brings me to the biggest single factor that influenced certainly mine but thousands of others 2013 race, and for me at least the reason this year will be remembered as special in paying tribute to the history of the event.

The weather on the day was an unusual 32C, high humidity and high winds coming from the North West. Essentially sweat was dripping off the peak of your cap at 5am, and continued to do so until you hit the high ground at around 11am, then this was disguised by the strong winds full into your face until you finished. Full sun all day like running in a furnace - it was well, pretty horrific to be honest.....

The race changed slowly but surely from a well planned strategy, to a physical challenge based on survival, to a long slow death march up the hills. Polly Shortts - I and most other will never ever forget you. With 78km behind you and just 9km to go its a most brutal & cruel challenge..

The statistics make interesting reading. The weather forecast alone put 4,000 off from arriving at the start line. Conditions meant that another 4,000 never made it to the finish line; organisers ran out of transport there were so many dropouts and casualties. People missing the later in-race cut-off times were politely asked to walk to the finish! At 11hrs only 6,000 had crossed the finish line - something of a low record in recent times. This meant 4,000 chased down a Vic Clapham medal with one hour to go.....so many in fact the medals ran out!!! I like many spent a couple of hours in the medical tent at the end, stretchered in along with many others; 200 stretchers and there weren’t enough.....833 people went through the medical tent in the end. None of these comments are a criticism at all of the organisers by the way - just a fact of life. It was a tough day at the office for everyone....except the winner ironically who finished a mere 8 minutes off the course record!!!!!! Made of different stuff clearly...!

The result

If I’m honest its still too early to forget the darker side of running the event this year. I had a particularly ‘negative head day’ mentally for some reason which is understandable but was unwarranted. Tough as it was I finished in 9:52:56, around half an hour slower than the downhill last year, securing the back to back medal I had so dearly coveted. I couldn’t have done any of this without Emma who stood out in the blazing sun all day at various parts of the course handing out drinks, electrolytes and food as required and helped me in my grim unstoppable cramping moments in the medical tent afterwards...thanks Em...such fun such fun!!! Next year???

The famous 12 hr cut off

Self explanatory this one. Comrades has a very strict cut off time of 12 hours. If you are 1 second too late then you are too late. It is up there as one of the most fantastic but heart wrenching moments in sport anywhere. Enough of me writing...watch it here, its carnage but fantastic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdQ5VVWgo4Q\

A final word...

The key memory from this years event is that is was an incredibly fitting tribute to those South African soldiers killed in World War I. Trudging desperately up Polly Shortts in the intense heat, not a single soul running, I thought hard about those that this great run commemorates, those that gave their lives marching in the sweltering East Africa. Ours was but a short moment, taken for fun & out of choice, not forced or in sacrifice. Thank you Bruce - “Respect the course” Got it completely....