Long Run with Legogote Villagers, Comrades Photo & Mastvetsen relay + Prawn braai info

In regards to our Long Run to Sabie on the 1^st May. Starting time at is 5am at Legogote club house, finish venue Sabie river camp. Cost R50 per runner. A for refreshments will be on hand. Legogote normally have a short stop on top of the pass, where we runners have a treat! If you would like to contribute to that you are more than welcome to do so. The R50 is to enable runners to have a shower and use the facilities at the end. Legogote have kindly welcomed us to join us after the run for a braai and get-together, so please bring your own meat, drinks and a salad to share with all if you would like. But most importantly get family/friends etc. to meet you at the end to take you home!

Any queries? 0796917196

Remember:

·   Comrades Photo at Time Trial on Thursday 17.15 sharp. Look beautiful and anything    Nedbank kit/t-shirt must be worn.

·   

     Masvetsen is this Sunday, 5 May.

TEAM CAPTAINS:

Juniors:  Fanie Bekker - bekkerjs@telkom.co.za

Seniors:  Marie-Louise Geyser - marielouise.geyser@gmail.com

Veterans:  Paul Norman - paul@fnorman.co.za

Masters:  Ian Toomey & Jean van Heerden iain@vanwettens.co.za/toomey@iafrica.com

Grand Masters:  Ian Toomey & Jean van Heerden

Please contact your various captains if you are available for Masvetsen.  Time and venue will be communicated this week.

RSVP for prawn braai to:  lvccrun@gmail.com

Cost:  R100 per person

RSVP by Wednesday 1 May.

No RSVP No Prawns!

Sudwala Screaming Monster Half Marathon

Please take note that it is a pre-entry only event. Entries close tomorrow, 30 April!
Entry form available here.

Bonitas Comrades Novice Project - Nelspruit

As part of the Bonitas Comrades Novice Project, the Comrades Marathon will be presenting 6 Bonitas Comrades Novice seminars kicking off later this month and early May. These seminars are an invaluable source of information for first-time Comrades Marathon Runners and will cover a variety of important topics.

The Official Comrades Coach, Lindsey Parry and guest speakers will be on hand to answer all questions from the audience. Entrance to these seminars is free and bookings are not necessary. 

The topics to be covered in detail include among others:

• What to do now?
• Comrades Goals
• Injury Prevention and treating
• Tapering
• Last three weeks
• Last three days
• Race Day
• Seconding
• Nutrition

Day	Date	Time	Centre	Physical Address
Tuesday	7 May 2013	19h00	Nelspruit	Lowveld Country Club 1 Aurora Street, Steiltes, Nelspruit

CC Comrades Corner - Andrew Dollenberg

The first marathon.

No, not that one you ran all those years ago. The first one that you will run on 2nd June!

Yes, in case you've forgotten, you will be running 2 marathons plus a little bit on that day. Or, if you prefer, the greatest ultra marathon.

In my last post, we got through the first few climbs, up Fields Hill, and to the shady streets of Kloof. Now, we head towards the marathon mark, and just beyond that, the halfway point at Drummond.

Kloof to Drummond:

The shady lane does not last long. And soon the relatively flat and shadowy road is left behind as you run through Gillitts. The bridge crossing over to the north of the M13 highway is worth taking note of. This marks the same altitude as the finish at The Oval in Pietermaritzburg. Once here, you have climbed 650m in altitude since the gun fired at 05h30 earlier in the morning. And you are not even 30km into the race yet.

There is a long but gentle climb from here to Hillcrest, and you will find this section of the road full of spectators and supporters, mostly families drinking coffee and frying up some breakfast on the pavement. They will generally be willing to share their bacon and eggs, if you ask politely. But you have another task to focus on, so move along!

Hillcrest is often also well attended by supporters and Comrades fans, and you will find the crowd support along this section quite lifting. Plenty cheers, but not too many beers, so enjoy the support and soak up the atmosphere. When the spectators shout "You're looking good", you probably still are. Though it is still quite early in the day.

A short downhill section after Hillcrest to the foot of Botha's Hill gives some breathing room. But as the road bends to the left, and you pass the railway on your right, the hard work once again begins.

The climb up Botha's is neither too steep nor long. Again, there is much crowd support here and the gentlemanly lads of Kearsney will, as always, be out in force to cheer you over the top.

The small drop into the village of Botha's Hill brings you to the quaint Botha's Hill railway station. The railway tracks now follow the route all the way to Drummond, and you may even get to catch a glimpse of the old steam locos that still run on this section for the benefit of tourists. You, however, are not a tourist. You are a runner.

The next 4km are slightly undulating. To be expected when the signs says "Valley of 1000 Hills". Of course, the views are spectacular. The crowds are thin along this section of the route, and the best thing to do is to 'get into the zone', find a buddy, and enjoy the road.

The first marathon of the day is completed around this point. Halfway is still a bit further on.

You know you're getting close to Drummond as the road takes a right hand bend and you begin a sharp decent. Unlike the down run, you can not see or hear the raucous of the halfway point until you are pretty much there. But be sure to drop a flower and doff your hat as you pass Arthur's Seat along the way, and pause a moment as you pass the Comrades Wall of Honour.

Just a few hundred metres past the wall is Drummond. Hopefully you haven't hit the wall yet. Passing this point is halfway in distance, but not yet in effort. The biggest challenge of the day still lies ahead.

A little more than a marathon behind you, and a little more than a marathon ahead. Time for a breather before hitting Inchanga.

Till next time...

Regards,
Andrew.

Part 1
Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

CC Comrades Corner - Murray Anderson-Ogle's 2011 Comrades Pt. 5

Murray blogged about his preparation for 2011 Comrades on Runner's World.It was his first and like this year's run also UP. Truly inspirational! We will be posting his blog entries as part of our build up to Comrades 2013.

The pursuit of rest and by default success and happiness.

MARCH 29, 2011

My last post dwelled on the intricacies of ass-clenching, shaving, strapping and looking like Tutankhamen’s bondage partner or doppelganger. The past two weeks have dealt me many highs and lows from a personal, professional and a running perspective.

If this is a blog about running the Comrades, why are there references to my professional and personal life? Because, Comrades is personal and it craves sacrifice and obedience and let’s face it, it is your daddy. Comrades is 90 kilometers of Darth Vader whispering in your ear ,“Luke, I am your father and who’s your daddy, I am’. At the end of Comrades, I think like in the movie we are supposed to hug and make up but I’ll wait till I get there.

Comrade’s wants your body, mind, soul, wallet and personal life. When triumph or tragedy strikes in your life, you either eat miles of tarmac or eat the tub of ice cream instead. Everyone is different, sometimes a run makes me feel better if it’s a work problem, or if it’s an injury I might go for the ice cream and beer and maybe even a smoke.

I entered my last Marathon with a great sense of trepidation. I was dealing with the rehab of an injury and had been clenching my bum for all its worth. The clenching seemed to work, as I set a new personal best on an admittedly fast course. Unfortunately, my quads felt like a few wise guys had taken a set of baseball bats to them in the days following the race.

Either way, I ran a personal best marathon, my Mom came on holiday unexpectedly, I finally have a website, and on the negative, work could be better, and I ‘ve had some weird injuries since my marathon. As far as March goes, it’s been average interspersed with chocolates from Paris.

Fear and achievement are our prime motivators as Comrades runners. Fear is what kicks you out of bed after not enough sleep to wrack up your weekly mileage quotas but fear as the green hobbit Yoda says ‘fear to the dark side leads’.

I ran on the dark side as we all do, I ran when I should not have been pounding the tarmac, when an extra day off would make all the difference. Or when you miss your alarm clock and you do a long run on your own and 12 kilometer’s out your knee stops like a hamster wheel when the hamster falls off… There you are again, that lost-looking poodle, or looking like a hairy-legged sweaty prostitute who has a predilection for neon shorts, socks and fluorescent takkies, stranded on some nameless piece of tarmac.

The pursuit of happiness is a fundamental tenet enshrined in the US constitution. We as Comrades aspirants and all athletes, but especially we the after-hours athletes can adopt it. We all started to run for competing reasons: freedom, time, health, wellness, stress relief and weight-loss. My primary motivator was initially weight-loss, and if I am honest it is still a primary motivator and Comrades just allows me to run further every day.

Our pursuit of happiness is having days when you run when nothing hurts, when you are faster than falling rain and the road just simply wants you to run faster, longer, stronger, like an insatiable lover, I would imagine? These are beautiful days that we cherish as runners: unfortunately, I have had too few of these days lately. Maybe it’s because we are addicts and our primary drug is endorphins.

Coming back from injury is a slow process, as I have come to learn it requires hard work, weird manoeuvres, looking odd, having people touch you and manipulate you and yes, I have had a man prod my ass and stomach muscles lately. My injury was caused by overdoing it and I have exacerbated it lately because of fear and endorphins that allow you to run further and longer than you should.

My pursuit of happiness is bonded with running and the goals I have set for this year. In order to achieve these goals the pursuit of rest is what I need most.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Race Report - Loskop 2013

LOSKOP 2013 – THE SURVIVOR SERIES – CAPTAINS REPORT

It was with great uncertainty that the participants in this year’s LOSKOP MARATHON travelled to Loskop on Friday, having been warned by the weather reports that we could expect rain on Saturday, we still did not know what to expect. We don’t exactly do “wet weather training” so when the heavens opened around midnight we knew we were in for a long wet day.

I’m sure Loskop is the earliest wake up of any of the races we do, 3am the alarms went off and we staggered out our tents in the rain to get prepared for a day of Survival out in the cold wet rain. With great handfuls of Vaseline smeared into all possible areas that could even possibly chafe we made our way to the start.

The first 10km or so looked promising with bright sky in the distance, but any hopes of the day clearing were dashed when it slowly got darker and gloomier and the rain started to fall. From then it wasn’t a case of for how long it would rain, but rather how hard, wet & cold it would be and how hard the wind would blow. I truly asked myself what makes right minded people voluntarily run 50km in the rain and snow (well it felt like snow OK !!!) And apparently the 21km wasn’t any easier as they had deep muddy ruts and rivers to negotiate.

But as always the LOSKOP runs were very well organised and spare a thought for the marshals and water point volunteers who got up just as early and then stood in the rain and cheered us on, without helpers like that these races would not be possible ( so we must all help at our races too )

It was great to finish at Loskop Dam and head towards our NEDBANK gazebo and get a nice hot boerie roll and beer from “Boss” Steve & “I want to stay!” Janine and other club helpers, you guys were saviour’s thank you.

Fortunately for those brave campers who stayed the rain stopped in the late afternoon, slowly people crawled out from their tents and gathered around the fires we had going, then the second part of SURVIVOR LOSKOP 2013 started as we had a well-deserved kuier around the fire, with music and braai going on we all had a great time, most pushed through till around 10pm and the “beverages” had run out.

Sunday saw us pack up and head home with another great run behind us, runs like this can only make one stronger. Well done to all who were brave enough and compete in the LOSKOP 2013 SURVIVOR RUNS !!!

Captain Paul

Coral & Sandy

Paul and Elsa

Time trial results 5km - 2013-04-18

NAME	TIME	NOTES
Colin Sibiya	19.47
Adriaan Du Plessis	21.03
Etson Mlambo	21.16
Toy Dupper	21:41
Andrew Dollenberg	22:41
Colin Bekker	22:41
Lala Majola	23.29
Anthea	25.27
Siyabonga Mdletshe	25.37
Michael Brooks	26.25
Monique Stidworthy	26.40
Moses Mashaba	26.40
Louma van Rooyen	28.15
Cindy Brooks	30.47
Janine Taljaard	32.39
Anette Barnard	36.37
Fanie Bekker	Attended
Helen Clarke	Attended
Jeanne van Heerden	Attended
Marie-Louise Geyser	Attended
Mirandi Bekker	Attended
Justyna Porter	Attended

CC Comrades Corner - Andrew Dollenberg

Are you ready for the up?

Do you now what I'm talking about? Probably not.

No, I'm not referring to the road from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. Well not all of it anyway. Just the first bit. From Durban to Kloof.

As we are getting closer to race day, this is a good time to start looking at the route you will be travelling. So in my next few posts, I'll be describing the route in detail, and giving you a route profile of that section.

For those that did the down run last year, you need to know that this year is not simply the same route in reverse. It is a totally different race, and is in no way comparable to what you did last year. It is 87km, which is better than the 89.7 you did last year, and way less than the 90km that everyone talks about. But is is uphill.

In summary, the start for the up run is at sea level in the centre of the city of Durban, and finishes in Pietermaritzburg at an altitude of 650m. Along the way, you will encounter 5 major hills, popularly known as "The Big Five". These are :
Cowies Hill
Fields Hill
Botha's Hill
Inchanga
Polly Shortts

Admittedly, “Big Five” has a nice little African ring to it and helps with the whole marketing thingy. Truth is there are a lot more than just five hills. Some of them don’t even have names! Hopefully the route descriptions will cover all this and more for you.

The first 25km:

The first great obstacle you will encounter after the gun is before you even cross the start line. The road is littered with newspapers, plastic bags, t-shirts, bottles, etc that runners have brought with and discarded. Be VERY careful of your footing and look carefully where you run. It is dark, and easy to trip over all this rubbish. There are also the permanent fixture in the road – the notorious runner’s landmine, or cat’s eye that can trip you up. Don’t start the race with grazed knees – it is guaranteed to ruin your entire day.

Without putting dread into the hearts of novices, this 25km section of road is what will make or break your day. Whether it is on the up run, or the down. Treat this section with respect, and tread carefully for the first 25km. Some hills in this section don't even have names, yet would be classified as mountains on a cycle race.

Soon after the start, the ascent towards Pietermaritzburg begins. The runners immediately join the highway, where the wider road creates little congestion for the thousands of pairs of feet. However, this also creates the risk of getting carried away in a wave of foolhardy feel-good adrenaline pumped runners. Start easy!

A steady climb up Berea Road to the top of Tollgate, where there is no longer a toll, nor a gate, is the first little pull of the day. In the dark of the early morning and among the throngs of runners, this hill is barely noticed, except to the legs which will build a memory of your actions throughout the day.

A short decent on the other side of Tollgate again lets foolish runners make up time lost on the start line. Then comes 45th Cutting, named after the British 45th Regiment of Foot (Sherwood Foresters)  who constructed the cutting while stationed in Natal from 1843 to 1859. This is about 7km into the race. Not overly steep or long, but at least the legs, if not the mind, will be building some memory for later in the day.

Between Westville and Pinetown lies the first of the five. Cowies Hill. What starts out as a gentle incline gradually gets steeper, with a gain of about 130m over the last 1.5km. Although not too difficult an obstacle on fresh legs, the 14 km you have already done have been all up hill.

The descent from Cowies is short and steep, winding down into Pinetown, where some rowdy students will be waiting to greet the runners, already with beer in hand. The long, easy flat section through Pinetown offers some rest before the biggest climb of the day: Fields Hill.

Greeting you at the half-marathon mark, the runners will take a sharp right hand turn and begin the long climb up Fields Hill. This is the section of the course where races are won and lost - on the up or down run. This is a real monster, and because it lies relatively early on the up-run, many runners attack this hill with far too much enthusiasm, driven by fresh legs, adrenaline, and the excitement of the morning. As they say, if you are feeling good, that feeling too shall pass. Fields is a long climb - rising some 220m over a distance of 3km. So run Fields with caution, taking the odd planned walk. Every minute gained this early in the race will be paid back with interest later. And although you will get tired, the route does get easier later on.

Nearing the crest of Fields, as the road makes a bend to the left, it is worth glancing back over your shoulder. On a clear day, you will be able to see Durban, the harbour, and the beaches. All a pretty long way below where you are now. This is the last sight of Durban you will have on the route, until you get to the same point next year. You will realise the climbing you have done in these first 23km of the race, and hopefully won't regret having done it too fast.

You know you have reached the top when you enter the shady streets and leafy suburbs of Kloof, and cross over the the south side of the highway. This flat section is a good time to recover after the climb up Fields, rather than a time to make up the schedule.

You might need to rest after reading all this - but it would be better if you went for a run instead.

Regards,
Andrew.

Part 1
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Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Time trial results 5km - 2013-04-04 and 2013-04-11

4 April 2013

NAME	TIME	NOTES
Sandile	19.19
Monday Mabuza	19.2
Adriaan du Plessis	19.33	PB ***
Arthur Ndou	20.51
Steve Brisley	21.26
Andrew Dollenberg	21.36
Elsa de Beer	22.02
Stephan Swanepoel	22.09
Brian	22.2
Wesley Tecklenburg	23.41
Michelle	23.52
Stan Stanton	24.28
Colin Bekker	25.13
Marie -Louise Geyser	25.48
Louma Van Rooyen	25.49
Hylton Cruse	26.17
Joe Classen	26.34
Mark Greeff	26.4
Justyna Porter	27.15	PB
Mark Williams	27.41
Kego Nxumalo	29.28
Mandla Nxmalo	29.28
Sandy Mclagan	29.45
Coral Niemand	29.48
Richard	30.38
Janine Kruger	32.27
Juanita Du Preez	33.32
Siyabonga Mdletshe	34.27
Riaan Nel	39.28	8
Anthea	attend
Teresa Blatherwick	attend

11 April 2013

NAME	TIME	NOTES
Bheki	18.06
Sven Musica	20.18
Toy Dupper	20.32	PB
Andrew Dollenberg	21.40
Stefan	21.58
Kagiso	23.38
Lala Majola	24.15
Steve Brisley	25.36
Alex	25.36
Mark Greeff	28.14
Sandy M	28.07	PB
Coral Niemand	29.07
Joe Klaasens	29.07
Kego	30.21
Gladys	30.21