An unprecedented three members of Tewkesbury AC flew off to South Africa to compete in the famous Comrades Marathon which was held on 17th June. The 89km/56 mile race is a legend in its home country and attracts over 10,000 runners each year for a route that is never flat and takes in five major hills as well as lots of 'rolling' ones between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Durban is on the coast and Piertermaritszburg is at an altitude of about 2,500 feet, with the highest point on the course at around 3,000 feet. Because the route changes direction each year, they are known as either 'down' runs or 'up' runs.
2007 was a 'down', and tackling the race for the first time were club members Angie Sadler and Michelle Laws, while going for his fourth start (with 2 ups and 1 down completed beforehand) was 60 year old 'veteran', Phillip Howells. Although Michelle's travel arrangements proceeded to plan, the journey for Angie and Phillip was a nightmare, with three changes of flight schedules needed before they arrived a day late and exhausted with just 2 hours to spare before registration closed.
Despite the stress and weariness of the journey, Angie delivered an outstanding run of pure class to record a remarkable 7hrs 42mins 51secs, to finish 714 overall (from 10,003 finishers within the strict 12hr cutoff deadline), 23rd lady (from 1,758 women finishers) and 7th in the 40-49 women vets category. By any standards an excellent debut at such a demanding event and one which underlines her increasingly recognised pedigree as an ultra distance runner. She earned a much coveted 'Bill Rowan' medal for her run (awarded to all finishers who record between 7.5 and 9 hours) only missing out on an 'elite athlete' Silver medal (awarded for beating 7.5 hours) by 13mins. (The top 10 runners are given a Gold medal - the winning time this year was a 'down' record of 5hrs 19mins.)
Michelle ran strongly and conservatively to meet her target of a sub-10 hour run with 9hrs 56mins 28 secs and 4,426 overall to secure a Bronze medal (for finishers between 9 and 11hrs - the remainder get a Vic Clapham copper medal; those outside 12 hours get nothing, even if just 1 second outside - it is pure pathos to see several hundred runners miss the cut-off, especially when just yards from the line, a feature which is a strong part of the unending attraction and drama of this great race).
Phillip also just secured a Bronze (his third) with 10hrs 56mins 30secs (for 6,997 place overall), satisfied with a finish, but also very disappointed to have an 'off-day' and unaccountably struggling from just 10km into the race after winning a Bill Rowan the previous year and hoping to improve, rather than go almost exactly 2hrs slower!
However, at least it was mission achieved in that all three runners finished to justify the long months of hard training; thought are now already on the up run in 2008?