BONGOLA OR BONGOLO MARATHON NOVEMBER 2004

BONGOLO MARATHON
6TH NOVEMBER 2004

I have run a number of Bong’s. My cousin, Wayne used to stay in Queenstown and so I would often stay over at his home. In the past I have been up with other Achilleans such as Bob Stedman, Ron Pask and Medicine Dlabati. More recently and since Wayne moved back to PE I have taken to camping at the dam and running the race the next day. Bill Corkill and others have camped with me. The start at the Bongolo Dam is often quite chilly. One morning a few years ago, I was at the start of the race and met up with Roz Gerber. I was feeling low and lazy and chatting to Roz, so was she. So when the gun went off the two of us turned around and ran the 21 instead of the 42.

This year I had planned to run the race and had Tim Gendall, Earl Scott and Stuart Brown as running partners for the event. As the time drew nearer, Stuart had to pull out due to work pressure and then, in the last week, Earl also had to pull out. Earl is a Pharmacist and the new regulations pertaining to Pharmacies has affected his business. Tim does not do too much training but is a natural athlete and can cope with the rigours of a marathon on minimal training. I had been training on a daily basis but no real long runs except for the 27 in Port Alfred and two weeks later the 27 in PE. Tim and I had run these two events.

On Friday afternoon Tim and I left PE at about 14.00 and with one stop at the Baddaford farm stall, got to the dam at just before 18.00. It took us about a half-hour to set up camp in the area behind the clubhouse at the dam. We registered and then went for the traditional pasta supper in the tent. The organisers had moved the bar to the clubhouse and so we did not see any of the PE people. We also missed Mike and Elaine Burger … Ex Queenstown Harriers and Ex Crusaders now living in East London. The supper was tasty, substantial and good value for money at R20.00. At this stage the locals had set up a fireworks display (being Guy Falkes night). As they did not serve coffee and we were not in the mood for beers, we drove to the filling station in town and there we had a coffee. Feeling quite stuffed we were soon ready for bed. Parked the car next to the tent and left the radio playing. That put me to sleep in a few minutes. I have stretcher camping beds and comfortable fold up mattresses so had a good night’s rest. Tim told me that he had a fitful sleep as he was disturbed by the coming and going of the cars and people. Many of the people who come to run the Bong are there more for the party than the race. The girls in particular seemed to be having a great time there.

I was up at 04.00 and went to the ablutions where I was greeted by some of the black runners who were showering. I think that they often have a hard time as they sleep on the floor where ever they can find a warm dry spot. I checked with them that the race did start at 05.30 and went back to bed for some more sleep. I woke again at 05.00 and found Tim nearly ready. 20 Minutes later we were ready to amble down to the start. The 21 and the 42 start at the same time and place. The 42 heads out in an Easterly direction towards Dordrecht and the 21 in a Westerly direction towards town. The race was started by a man standing on a big truck. He had one of those “Tins of Hooter” which he blasted but no one paid any attention to until he kind of shooed us away. So off we went. By this time we realised that we were the only Achillean representatives in the 42. The Boschoffs were not there nor any of the other regular Bong runners. We were soon to see that there were no Crusaders, no Body Concept runners and to top it all; no PE Club runners. We did however see a few of the black guys from Harmony and a few PEB runners. Quite strange running a race in the Eastern Cape where there are so few people to greet.

The race heads out away from town for two kays before turning into a farm road. The weather was good to us being overcast, not too cold but quite high humidity. At the start we greeted one of the few people that we recognised, Charlene who used to work for Spar. It was about here that we passed a man with one leg in a prosthesis. He is a big man and was breathing heavily but said the artificial leg was not hurting him today. We saw him much later as we were driving home and he still had about half a kay to go. He missed the 5 hour cut off but his personal sense of achievement must be huge. Anyway as we were heading off down the dirt road we agreed that we really did not feel like a marathon today. I was feeling heavy and tired before 5 kays were gone. And then we saw the fast runners coming back and making it all look so easy. At this stage not even the “Jong Bokkies” could lighten the load. The grazing cows in the nearby fields gave me a sense of peace and made me ask the question “What on earth am I doing running a 42kay 350 kays from home?’”. We met up with Alize and Elize from Albany. And we were to run with them in our vicinity for most of the first 28 kays. Then Alize, who has a PE sister called Alida, and runs for Uitenhage I think (small tattoo on the back of her shoulder), passed us. We never saw Elize again after this.

After ten kays it was back onto the tar road and at 12 kays past the start. This had taken us a little over an hour and the first of the 21 kay runners were finishing. Disgusting when you think about it! We were feeling a bit better now as we had warmed up and so the thought of bailing was not there. Past the dam wall and down the hill to the main road at about 15kays. Now the 21ers were coming past us thick as fast. They were heading home and we were at the 16 and 17 kay mark with 25kays to go! Still none of the PE regulars. And then into the suburbs and past some of the most beautiful gardens and homes that there are in the country. Through a short pathway and round the reservoir took us to about the 21 kay mark. At this stage I was wondering how I was ever going to make it to the finish. I had heavy and tired legs. Tim was being kind and waiting for me. The route then takes a strange kind of loop past the schools and the Queenstown Harriers clubhouse.

At 25kays is the start of the Heartbreak Hill and into the reserve area. This hill is nearly three kays altogether but with some leveling out in-between. Here the seconding is great with a number of pretty young girls whooping and shouting encouragement to get us to the top. It is only at the 28kay mark that the downhill starts again. Last year a cyclist had passed us on the down and took a tumble on the gravel road. Then at the 30 kay mark (just after the Jackson’s Isuzu watering point) the race leaves the Lonehill nature reserve and heads along a dirt road back to town. About here started the walking stage. “Okay Tim we run to that lamp pole and then walk to the next intersection” This is the kind of statement familiar to us back markers.

Once back in the suburbs of Queenstown the route takes the runners along wide roads where it is best to stay on the North side to enjoy every bit of shade that you can. The town becomes hot and the sun bakes down onto the runners who take as long to complete the race as we were going to. The watering stations are excellent. Some of them less than a Kay apart. I presume that this is in anticipation of the extreme heat that can be part of the Bong. Also they are catering for the 21 kay runners as well. Today it was not particularly hot but still hot enough to seek out the shade.

At this stage others started to pass us at an alarming rate. It was down to single figures and I was unable to manage a full kay of running without a walk. Tim set the points where we were allowed to take a break and we jogged on. At the four kay to go mark I met up with Tony, an ex PE man who works at PG glass and commutes to Queenstown. Finally we got to the turn off to the dam. 3 kays to go. This is mainly uphill with a nasty steep climb of 600meters just before the start of the last kay. Tim charged up and I walked, jogged up. I found him enjoying the attention of the pretty girls from the FNB watering station and having a street shower. We managed to run the whole of the final kay to the finish and timed ourselves at a magnificent 4H19. Did I say Magnificent, when the next day Hendrik Ramaala goes on to win the New York Marathon in 2H09? A proud moment for SA.

Well done to the Queenstown Harriers and their supporters who together put on an excellent event. The local businesses seem to give huge support to the club in the form of seconding, goodie bag and prizes. In addition the locals turn out in good numbers to support the runners and SA Breweries.

I was exhausted to say the least. Tim said he had plenty of Vooma left. A short rest, hot showers and we were ready to pack up. Bob Stedman has a saying that you can tell a runners fitness by the rate of recovery. The showers are really hot due to a “Donkey” or wood heated geyser that is kept permanently burning. Packing up the tent and gear took us about 20mins and we headed off home. Once we had filled up with petrol we did not stop until we were home, there was minimal traffic and just one stop start where there were road-works. The drive took us a little over 3.30 hours.

And as if we had not had enough of each other by that time we spent the afternoon watching the Springbok side play Wales. The last time SA played Wales in June of this year they had beaten them 53 to 18 at Loftus. The Boks had come off a Tri-Nations win in August 2004 (after losing to both teams in away games). They had beaten New Zealand 40 to 26 at Ellis Park then in the final, beaten world champions Australia 23 to 19 at ABSA Park in Durban. The Boks managed (almost by default) to beat the Welsh at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff by just two points 38 to 36. There was a crowd of over 50 000 spectators and it seemed to us that half of them were South Africans. Percy Montgommery scored most of the points (23) with a try and taking the penalties & conversions. The other try scorers were Jaco van der Westhuizen, Joe van Niekerk & Jean de Villiers. Victor Matfield took man of the match. Other play makers for the South African team were Fourie du Preez at scrum half, Marius Joubert and our favourite; Schalk Burger. John Smit captained the side with Jake White as head coach.

This was the start of the tour to the UK with three more matches to follow. (Ireland {SA beat Ireland twice in June this year; at Newlands 26 to 17 and Vodacom park 31 to 17}, England [we were beaten 25 to 6 by England when we last played them in the world cup, October 2003] and Scotland {we last played Scotland in June 2003 where we beat them 28 to 19} and then off the Argentina [the PE stadium was the venue for the last match, June 2003, where we scraped home with a victory of 26 to 25} for five consecutive Saturdays). So it seems possible that we may yet win the Grand Slam on this tour. SA are currently ranked 5th in the world of Rugby behind NZ, Australia, England and France. After us are Ireland, Wales, Argentina and Scotland.

It had been a good day for us generally. The next morning we were able to go for a 500m swim to the Coke can in our attempt to train for the Energade Triathlon later in the month.


Peter Giddy
6 November 2004.