TWO OCEANS HALF MARATHON 2010

TWO OCEANS HALF MARATHON 2010

Good Friday: 2.04.2010.
This morning is spent reading and playing with grandchildren. This afternoon Stefan & I go to Registration. He registers for Antonette. Cathy and Saul are there as well but we dont see them. Three in the afternoon is a good time to register as we are able to walk straight in. You have to have your printed form or obtain the race number prior to registration. I go to the Blue Number club for my number. I register for Barbara as well.

Stefan and I get ready. Nicci has decided to run in Mom's place. Antonette, Stefan's friend from Worster arrives and we are in bed early. We have agreed to leave at 4.00am but finally get going after 4.10 and have to collect Cathy as well. Barbara comes with us. We drive to the Upper Campus parking. Last year we were earlier and parked in the Middle Campus and had better parking. We park up on one of the top levels. Above the field we have a short Photo session and walk to the field where we part ways with Barbara.

Down on the Main Road we have a fairly long walk and end up at the back of the field again just as we were last year. We wait for about 30 minutes and then set off at 6.00am. THere are crowds but not like last year. Stefan and I are able to run at a reasonable pace even if it means running on the pavement and doging the runners at the start. I see Kathleen from MPRG. Dean Gow calls my name. Dean was Ally's Hockey coach over the past few days during the school holiday he ran a clinic for the various grades.

Not long into the race we turn right up as short hill to a church and then left again. The route meanders a bit before a short switch back and then we run under the main road and past the sports ground. This is another bit of an uphill leading to the long switchback. We are now at about 7kays and turn left. We have seen Pat Scheepers and sonn pick up with Gerald as well. We make the U turn at the big coke bottle.

Once we had reached the 10kay mark Stefan realised that I was holding him back and I urged him to press on. He had been turning round and looking for me for some time and I realised that he wanted to push a little harder. It was Stefan's goal to run the 21 in under 2 hours. So just before Southern Cross Drive, Stefan left me and I had to shuffle my way up this long hill on my own. I managed to jog it out without a walk and finally reached the top where the 56kay runners would be coming along a bit later.

I saw a marker board for the Ultra Marathoners showing that they had run 48kays and only had 8 to go. I know that we also had 8 to go but the difference was that we had run 13kays and they had run a full 48kays. Right now I was so glad that I was not having to run a 56kay this morning. Once at the top of Southern Cross drive there are still the same undulating twists and turns that the Marathoners have to endure. The same camber to the road making running in the gutter a route of choice.

Then finally we reached the top most point of the run. From here there was a sharp down hill, a sharp left turn (where I heard Suzanne's name being called out but could not spot her) and then another sharp down hill where the runner could receive a spray of pain killer. With only a few kays to go I again heard the Name “Mr. Giddy” being called out. It was Dean Gow (Ally's Hockey Coach).

We chatted for a while and stuck together to the end. With only one kay left in the race there is a final climb up to the UCT field. Here it takes a lot of Vasbyt to not walk. Then we run into the stadium and around the field, under a walkway and finally across the finish line. Dean and I had been pushing as hard as we could in this last 500 meters and I started heaving when I stopped. I never saw Dean again but in the results I saw that we finished together.

I made my way around to the Achilles tent which was located close to the entrance to the field. The tent was deserted so I walked up to the fence and watched as the athletes finished their run. I saw Stefan's friend, Antonette, who later joined me. We shouted as every known and unknown runner finished as we waited for Nicci and Cathy to finish their run. Mike Dean and Cathleen came past. Finally the cut off time of 3 hours came and went and still no Cathy or Nicci.

Then at about 3.15 Nicci and Cathy finally entered the stadium holding onto each other looking in great spirits. Seeing the two of them together like this gave me a huge sense of pride as the two of them had done absolutely no training at all and here they were finishing a tough 21kay together. Once they were in we walked back to the finish area in the hope that we would see the rest of our gang. I later saw Mike Botha who had bailed due to injury and Paulette at the tent. The 56kay ultra marathoners would still be a long time coming.

Some of the results:
21 Kay
Mike Bester 1;29
Hans Beuche 1;49
Peter Giddy 2;11
Dean Gow 2;11
Rodney Maggot 2;44
Stefan Steenkamp 2;07
Mike Dean 2;39
Kathleen Flanagan 2;39
Catherine Silberstein 3;15
Nicolette Steenkamp 3;15
Gerald Scheepers 2;18
Pat Scheepers 2;39
Ronel Scheepers 2;03
Suzanne Gendall 2;16
Kobus Gerber ran his 20th Two Oceans Marathon in 6.18.
Andy Bolton has run 28 ultra's and ran with Kobus for many of them.
Graham Channon ran his 30th Ultra.