Comrades Route Tour Archives

LONG AND VERY SLOW

8 May 202529 June 2025
by Bruce Fordyce

This weekend I spotted dozens of runners out on Gauteng’s roads. Clearly they were training for the Comrades Marathon. The Comrades T shirts and peak caps they were wearing were useful clues to the motivation of these runners. I was driving back from Rustenburg, from the very successful launch of the new Sun City parkrun.(It’s a “beaut” of a parkrun by the way, definitely bucket list material. Congratulations to everyone involved.)
It was late in the morning and even though it had been chilly in the morning, the sun was blazing down and it was hot. The runners I spotted were shuffling along, their torsos glistening with sweat. Many of them were grimacing. Quite a few were walking. None were having fun. Read more “LONG AND VERY SLOW” →

Comrades Marathon

I HATE SURPRISE PARTIES

1 January 202529 June 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!” Read more “I HATE SURPRISE PARTIES” →

Bruce Fordyce Comrades Route Tour

EXPLORE AS MUCH OF THE COMRADES ROUTE AS YOU…

27 April 20245 August 2024
by Bruce Fordyce

The late and greatly missed Ian Emery once asked me why I was running very wide of the kerb on a bend near Drummond (halfway) while we were racing the Comrades Marathon.

“Bruce”, he panted, “you’ve been running the tangents so well in this race and yet suddenly you’re running wide. What’s up?”

Ian, by the way was a three-time gold medallist in our great race with a best place 4^th in 1985. He was knocked off his bike one awful morning and killed by a drunk motorist. I can’t believe that that sad day was more than 20 years ago.

Bruce Fordyce Comrades Route Tour

THE UP RUN

20 March 202420 March 2024
by Bruce Fordyce

With fewer than 100 sleeps to go until race day it is worth having a look at the challenge that faces runners on 9^th June this year.

Understandably many runners are reluctant to run the Comrades ‘up run’. It has a notorious reputation. The ‘up run’ is always the slower of the two races, and it boasts 5 arduous and infamous hills, culminating in the monster mountain, Polly Shortts. Runners must negotiate Polly Shortts after completing more than 80 kilometres, and this in full view of a prying television camera. Common sense and experience teach us that ascending is harder than descending. Running up hills is tough, running down them is so much more enjoyable, so the prospect of hours of climbing in an up Comrades can be daunting.

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 “ →

Tag: Comrades Route Tour