Comrades After Party Archives

I HATE SURPRISE PARTIES

1 January 2025
by Bruce Fordyce

I hate surprise parties!

Not those spontaneous, “let’s try that new restaurant tonight“ or “Suzy is having a braai and watching the rugby on telly this afternoon” parties. Those are fine. They can even be fun. No I hate those surprise parties where you are the “surprise” the shocked victim, and everybody else is a “surpriser “Those parties when you walk through the door yawning, and scratching your bum and a phalanx of friends in funny hats shout “surprise, surprise!”

I have only been the victim on a couple of occasions in my life, but I am experienced enough to know they aren’t fun. On both occasions I looked appalling. I was caught wearing a tatty old T shirt and a stained pair of jeans, and I had had no time to drag a comb across my head to hide the balding bits.

But worst of all I wasn’t ready for a party. I Didn’t feel like a party. I had had no time to prepare. I was really hoping to watch the rugby on the couch while picking at junk snacks. Instead, I was going to have to joke and smile and dance to music I hate.

Its all about preparation. Give me time to plan a great party and I’ll be the life and soul of the event. I’ll dance to the awful music and I’ll even lead the conga line.

The same applies to racing marathons. I’m not one of those who can spontaneously decide to jump on a plane, fly to East London or some other destination and run a marathon on Sunday. I did that once at Maseru marathon 1981 and I had fun with great teammates, I ran a respectable time, but the consequences were disastrous. The marathon punched a huge hole in my training plans. It took me days to recover, and I also struggled with an injury for a couple of weeks after my impromptu race. Most importantly that run was the direct cause of the poor time I ran a few weeks later in the marathon I had planned to race (The Golden Reef marathon). I struggled from the start and was never comfortable. I bailed (dropped out) at 32kms. Dropping out was psychologically devastating. It took me months to recover from that blow and I still don’t like thinking about it.

No, I prefer to plan things carefully. I like to have a written schedule, a map that takes from the start of my training build-up to the day of the race in which I hope to race well. My marathon plan reminds me of those swotting schedules some of used to plot before school exams:
Monday Geog
Tuesday Hist
Wed More Geog
Thursday English
Friday Maths
Saturday Maths Again!
Sunday Science

My marathon training schedules were far more detailed. And unlike my exam swotting schedule, which was often abandoned in favour of something more fun, I stuck religiously to them. They were my instruction manuals, my maps to success. I never had to question them. They answered the question” why” for every training run. I could tinker with them a bit, like swop Monday’s run with Tuesdays run but only for a very good reason. But otherwise, there was very little room for spontaneity in my plan. My schedule was like two railway tracks, and I was the train on those tracks chugging relentlessly to my station, my marathon destination. So, I would plan each week’s training, and then each month, slotting in long runs, and speedwork, hill training and when people query how I was able to race successfully for a decade or so I answer “because I spent nearly as much time planning my training schedule as I did actually running and training on the roads.

A snippet from my 1982 training schedule

It worked for me, and it will work for you. There is nothing better than working on a plan for someone else and watching with pride while they achieve their goals. My friend Iain Morshead has poured over my old training schedules and distilled them into a wonderful and exciting programme that works for runners of all abilities. At Fordycefusion we enjoyed some great successes last year and as the New Year begins, we are anticipating even more success.

Join the Bruce Fordyce Comrades Route Tour on 6th June 2025! Tickets available here!

Join the Bruce Fordyce Comrades After Party on 9th June 2025! Tickets available here!

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Comrades Marathon

CLOSE THE CHAPTER NOT THE BOOK!

29 December 202329 December 2023
by Bruce Fordyce

My great friend Derick Marcisz never ceases to remind me that his lifetime marathon personal best (p.b.) is exactly one second faster than mine. In March 1983 I ran 2 hours 17 minutes and 18 seconds at the Buffs Marathon in East London. A few months earlier Derick recorded 2 hours 17 minutes and 17 seconds at the old Transvaal Marathon Championships. He has reminded me of that one second for over 40 years.

Alan Robb

SOME SUPERSTITIONS DO WORK

4 June 202321 November 2023
by Bruce Fordyce

I’m not a superstitious person. I’ll walk under a ladder, and I’ll stroke a black cat that crosses my path. I hardly notice Friday 13^th and I would happily sit in seat in seat 13 on a plane if there was one. I eat the chicken on a wishbone, and I always forget to make a wish.

But I would never dare forget to greet Arthur Newton as I run past Arthur’s seat in the Comrades marathon.

Comrades Marathon

BITE-ABLE BITS AND CHEWABLE CHUNKS

27 May 202321 November 2023
by Bruce Fordyce

“Jissie dis ver” (Jeez it’s far) Zola Budd muttered under her breath as we ran shoulder to shoulder down the Berea. We were grinding our way through the last few kilometres of the 2012 Comrades marathon and both of us were hanging on desperately and counting down the last few kilometres to the finish at Kingsmead stadium.

“Vasbyt Zola” I replied, “ons is amper daar.” (Hang on Zola, we’re nearly there)

Bruce Fordyce Comrades After Party

KEEP MOVING FORWARD.

20 May 202321 November 2023
by Bruce Fordyce

I can still hear the late Don Oliver’s calming words delivered in his charming cockney accent.

“Don’t you worry Comrades novices you’re going to be alright. You’ve got Don Oliver’s pacing chart and his wise words to guide you home.”

How I miss him. For nearly 40 years Don, and fellow Rocky Road Runners coach Dennis “tombstones” Tabakin advised novices at monthly training panel discussions. I was often an invited guest speaker at these evening talks, and I was privileged to watch these two experts help hundreds of novices take their first tentative steps on their Comrades journeys. Then months later Don and Dennis would help them complete those journeys. The Rocky Novice panel talks were so popular that every talk was jam-packed, and even experienced runners and Comrades veterans attended.

Read more “KEEP MOVING FORWARD.” →

Comrades Marathon

CRAMPS-TRY RUNNING LIKE DAFFY DUCK

14 May 202321 November 2023
by Bruce Fordyce

Illustration by Daniel Yagman

“The reason you beat me in the ‘Comrades Marathon’, Bruce”, Hoseah Tjale once remarked, “Is that I start cramping with 10 kilometres to go in the race and you start cramping with 5 kilometres to go. While I’m fighting cramps in those critical few kilometres, you run away from me.”

Alan Robb

JUST GET ON WITH IT

6 May 202321 November 2023
by Bruce Fordyce

Glued into one of my old scrapbooks are some faded dog-eared newspaper articles of the 1978 Comrades marathon. That year I ran my second Comrades Marathon and my first down run. To be honest I kept these articles because my 14^th place finish meant my name appeared in those newspapers that published the first 20 finishers. Fame at last! One photograph in that scrapbook, however, always catches my eye. It’s a faded black and white photo of Alan Robb’s head poking out from above a shower door. Clearly, he is enjoying a shower in Durban’s famous Kingsmead stadium. Alan’s running vest is also captured in the photo. It dangles from a towel rack with Alan’s Comrades number, 1704 still pinned to it.

Read more “JUST GET ON WITH IT “ →

Bruce Fordyce Comrades After Party

I’M A CHEF

29 April 202321 November 2023
by Bruce Fordyce

Last Sunday’s epic 42nd running of the London Marathon reminded me that I once ran the London Marathon with Gordon Ramsay. Yes “Hell’s kitchens/Kitchen Nightmares/The F word” Gordon Ramsay.

For any astonished non-believing sceptics reading this article who doubt Ramsay’s ability to run a marathon, allow me to startle you further. Gordon Ramsay has completed 3 Comrades marathons between the years 2000 and 2004. His best time is 10:31 (up). For good measure he is also an Iron Man medallist. In language spiced with profanities he rated the Comrades as the toughest @#$& race he has ever run.

HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT!

15 April 202321 November 2023
by Bruce Fordyce

It’s such a pity that South Africa’s two premier ultramarathons are run just a few weeks apart. It’s like those poor people whose birthdays fall on Christmas day or New Year. It’s simply too much excitement in too short a time. Comrades Marathon runners are compelled to choose. One of the events must take precedence. If their goal is to run a successful Comrades they must make Two Oceans the supporting act for Comrades. Two Oceans ambitions must be cast aside, and the focus must be the Comrades marathon. For Two Oceans fans it means discarding the Comrades. It’s a little like choosing the Rolling Stones as the supporting act for The Beatles. Neither should be the supporting act for the other, It’s Interesting that many Cape based runners call closed season after they’ve earned their Two Oceans medals. For many of them the Comrades is a bridge too far.

Comrades 2022 training

SLASH YOUR MILEAGE WISELY!

1 August 202227 November 2022
by Bruce Fordyce

It was the morning before the Comrades marathon in 2019 and I was gazing out of the 15^th floor window of my room in a Durban beach front hotel when I witnessed an astonishing sight.

No, it wasn’t the brightly billowing spinnakers of 100 international racing yachts nor was it the conning tower of a nuclear submarine surfacing off the bluff.

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