Two Oceans Ultra Marathon: Saturday 19th April, 2014
The Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town, South Africa, is advertised as “the world's most beautiful marathon”, a bold claim, but one which can probably be made with some justification.
The Route:
The spectacular course, equally feared and revered by competitors, takes in the Indian and Atlantic oceans as well as significant and challenging portions of the iconic, landmark Table Mountain.
The race begins before dawn, in the shadow of the mountain, on Newlands Main Road, within spitting distance of both the Newlands stadium, where the England cricket team is periodically humiliated, and also the Sports Science Institute of South Africa which is home to Dr Tim Noakes, the legendary professor of exercise and sports science, and controversial proponent of low carbohydrate living.
After a scenic, but testing and tumultuous 56km, it finishes in blazing sunshine, and it really did on this occasion, on the campus of the University of Cape Town, where I was once a student.
The course, with a total elevation gain/ loss of 820/761 meters, is legendary for the brutal sting in its tail. The climb up Chapman’s peak is tough enough, but it is the Constantia Nek section between 42km and 47km that sucks the life out of many, and Dr Ross Tucker’s excellent ‘Recon Videos' proved to be extremely useful psychological preparation for me.
Ross Tucker also laconically remarks that Two Oceans “war stories" usually begin at 42km, and that much really is true, for it is here where the remorseless climb to the highest point in the course begins to inflict a level of discomfort which cannot be ignored.
Cut-off times at 28km 42km and 50km are diligently implemented, and many runners experience the indignity of a compulsory ride home on the ‘bailers’ bus’, as it is pejoratively known, earning an ignominious DNF in their record.
Race Profile:
Preparing for OMTOM (Sponsored by Old Mutual)
OMTOM (Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon) 2014, as it is affectionately known, was to be my first ultra-marathon, and from the moment I submitted my online application, excitement, anticipation and indeed trepidation began to mount.
Surely, all I needed to do was to train for it, but was it really going to be that straightforward?
TRC Wednesday evening runs, and the rather opportune wintervals provided a great foundation and inspiration for my training, and I am particularly indebted to a number of club members (and they will know who they are) for their help and encouragement.
Regular visits to ParkRun, two marathons in Amsterdam and Marrakech respectively, half a dozen half-marathons and a small handful of LSDs, exploring my neighbourhood and the surrounding towns and villages, provided the other part of the puzzle.
Arriving in South Africa:
My wife Barbara, our youngest son Jonathan, and I arrived in Cape Town a few days early, on Monday 14th April, theoretically with not only enough time to acclimatise, but also to enjoy some of the excellent South African cuisine and wines.
The only fly in the ointment was an irritating and debilitating calf injury which threatened to put paid to my race even before it had started.
When we stepped off the plane in Cape Town I was literally unable to walk, let alone run. My youngest son, Jonathan, who was to have run the race with me, was forced to withdraw on account of a tibial stress fracture, and I was damned if we were both going to be forced out on account of injury. I was at this point prepared to try anything, well, almost anything.
My brother-in-law, Joshua Ogada, a veteran of 4 OMTOM and 3 Comrades marathons, and also captain of the Unogwaja team 2014 recommended a Lyno therapist, and my first visit to the biokineticist and lyno therapist Gabi Dekenah was within hours of arriving in Cape Town.
Lyno is a form of fascial restructuring, developed by Benita Kropman and practiced almost exclusively in South Africa. After some diagnostic procedures, Gabi immediately got to work on my calf and indeed some other underlying problems, and if I were to suggest that the treatment is utterly pain free, that would be not be entirely accurate.
My feeling however was that without pain, there was unlikely to be any gain, so I just gritted my teeth.
By the time I returned to Gabi for my second visit a couple of days later, the improvement was already vast, and I was beginning to feel cautiously optimistic. After some more extremely rigorous work, I left with instructions not to run until the ‘big day’ and with a few exercises I was to do regularly, in the intervening time.
Gabi Dekenah (Lyno Therapist) & Leon Bosch
Race Day:
On Friday 18th April, after a hearty meal rich in protein and fat, it was early to bed, to stock up on that other vital ingredient, rest. Sleep was, as expected, only fitful, and we arose at 4 the next morning. After my traditional pre-race breakfast of 2 boiled eggs, on this occasion supplemented with some cheese and meat, I got dressed into my Tring Running Club vest, and duly taped, oiled and greased all other relevant bits and pieces.
When we arrived at the start on Kenilworth Main Road at about 5:00am, we were greeted by something resembling a carnival atmosphere, with the level of excitement and general hub-bub sweeping all before it.
A poignant rendition of the South African national anthem, Nkosi sikelel i’Afrika - preceded the starting gun, and the half-marathon, for which there were 18000 participants, set off in two waves, at 6:00 and 6:10am, whilst the ultra-marathon, with 11,000 participants representing around 67 countries, set off at precisely 6:30am.
As a novice, I was seeded in group ‘ E’ and was in fact so far back that I only eventually crossed the start line 6 or more minutes after the gun had been fired. The race was televised, and if you look carefully at the 'still’ below, you can see the back of my Tring Running Club vest, as I vainly try to find a way through the wall of runners in front of me.
SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) - Television
As I trundled off on this potentially epic personal journey, I was acutely aware of the fact that I had at this point not run for 11 days, and despite the huge improvement in my condition, albeit with a still noticeably swollen calf, my adventure could easily end in tears. One of my colleagues back in the UK, whilst wishing me luck, jokingly advised me, via Facebook, to make sure I had the correct change in my pocket for the bus fare home.
My plan for staving off disaster, was to set off extremely conservatively, for the first 20km at least, and then if things hadn’t deteriorated by then, to increase my effort level bit by bit.
Shortly after Fishoek, a fellow runner drew up alongside me to ask if the Tring on my shirt was “Tring in Hertfordshire”. I assured him that it was, and in conversation, it transpired that he had previously visited this otherwise little-known market town in the Chilterns, and was well acquainted with its history, major landmarks and other points of interest. During the course of our engaging tete-a-tete I also learned that he had run the Two Oceans marathon 14 times, Comrades 20 times, and indeed many other iconic races.
The only downside of this unexpected encounter with such an awesome dude, was the realisation that I was now running much faster than intended, especially in view of my modest goal of just completing the race, come what may; but because I was by now halfway up Chapman’s Peak and still feeling a million dollars, bravado got the better of me and I continued at this rather more optimistic pace.
Once I had reached the summit at Chapman’s Peak, to the sound of the most electrifying and uplifting township jazz, it was going to be mostly downhill, all the way to the 42.2km mark in Hout Bay.
My sister-in-law, who lives close-by, in Llandudno, was to have been somewhere along the route to cheer me along, so I spent most of my time looking out for her and my two nieces, and in the process kicking rather too many cat’s-eyes, a wholly new and unexpectedly painful experience. The camber of the road was such that the very middle appeared to be the least deleterious place to be running, but those cat’s eyes exacted a heavy toll, painfully felling a number of runners around me, jarring my own legs at least a couple of times, and teaching me a sobering lesson.
Somehow I missed Janet, Tilly and Maisy, but as I exited Hout Bay and successfully passed the 42.2km mark, it began to dawn on me that the next challenge was the toughest part of the course, the daunting climb up to Constantia Nek, which I had in fact driven a few times in the preceding days, just to get a sense of the geography and to identify potentially useful landmarks. As I began knuckling down to this physical and mental challenge, with the occasional negative demon tapping me on the shoulder, I was suddenly aware that the overwhelming number of runners around me had ground to a virtual halt and were now walking, some determinedly and others dejectedly.
Foolishly I resolved to keep running, but that obliged me to swerve, and duck and dive around rather too many bodies, something which quickly became terribly tiring. Walk-run was then to be my next best strategy, and I was now additionally having to dig really deep, both physically and psychologically.
A good friend of mine, Peter Verstage had travelled to Cape Town from the Isle of Man for a bit of rest and recuperation and also to support me in this endeavour. He was going to be at the top of Constantia Nek, the very place I had told him I would probably need the most encouragement, so that was a mini-milestone to look forward to.
The 5km climb felt endless and exhausting, but just as the summit came into view, I saw Peter, even before he spotted me, and this immediately imbued me with renewed energy. Peter, who was of course on absolutely fresh legs, ran alongside me for a couple of hundred yards, shouting welcome words of encouragement, before I started the steep descent towards the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
As soon as I began the descent, in retrospect probably a little too enthusiastically, I was struck by the most blinding pain in both knees and quads. It was almost as if someone had maliciously embedded serrated daggers into my legs. With just over 9 kilometres to go to the finish, I was now seriously beginning to wonder whether I could possibly drag myself that far, in such excruciating pain.
An attack of cramp of this magnitude was a wholly new and disturbing experience for me and something which I would be prefer never to have to repeat.
This descent from Constantia Nek was even more fearsome than Chapman’s Peak and the camber of the road even more extreme, and as I gingerly put one foot in front of the other, hoping for the pain to subside, but also desperately determined to keep moving, I realised that my toes were now beginning to impact inside my shoes. Stopping really wasn’t an option, so I did my best, ultimately unsuccessfully though, to try and manoeuvre my toes inside my shoes into a less painful configuration, with each successive step.
Whilst that didn’t appear to help my toes, it must have had some beneficial effect upon my quads, for they now began to co-operate once again. What a relief it was to be up and running once more. The sun was high in the sky, the worst was behind me, huge crowds lined the streets shouting encouragement, the bands played, and I was now within spitting distance of the finish line.
This really was great for the soul, and as I entered the grounds of the University of Cape Town, I was even able to muster something which resembled a sprint finish.
My race data:
I may well have only have crossed the line three hours after the winner, Lebenya Nkoka, who finished in a truly remarkable 03:09:52 - the inducement of a R1million bonus to break the record notwithstanding - but felt curiously rejuvenated and convinced that I could probably have continued running for a while longer.
Post Race Celebrations:
Eight members of my family participated in Two Oceans in one form or another, with three completing the half-marathon and two the ultra.
Everyone had something to celebrate and that made for a truly convivial post race celebration.
I had promised myself a few beers and a braai (South African terminology for a barbecue) and the first delicious sips of beer, marked not just a ‘mission accomplished’, but also proved a useful anaesthetic to a couple of badly bloodied toenails.
Photograph of Medals at Janet’s
Left to Right: Joshua (ultra) Morné (2km fun run) Tanja (half marathon) Maisy (2km fun run) Barbara (half marathon) Leon (ultra) Anne (half marathon) William (8km fun run) Janet (2km fun run)
Organisation:
The OMTOM marathon is exceptionally well organised, in absolutely every respect.
The online registration process could not have been simpler and all competitors received regular pre-race updates, including advice ranging from medical information to parking on race day. Nothing was left to chance, and the possibility for any confusion was successfully banished.
Race numbers and chip collection, and indeed the inevitable ‘Expo’, were hosted in Cape Town International Convention Centre, and the OMTOM and Adidas Apps were well conceived and intuitive to use. The 'goodie bag’ was well stocked, and I am, over two months on, still benefitting from some of the creams, lotions and potions.
The provision of refreshments was impressive, there were 33 refreshments stations in all, approximately 3km apart until the halfway mark, and then every kilometre thereafter, providing everything ranging from water and Powerade (electrolyte drink) in 100ml sachets, to Coca-Cola, boiled potatoes, bananas and chocolates. The staff at the refreshment stations, the race marshals, and the patrolling medical teams (on bicycles as well as on and in motorised vehicles) were well briefed, sympathetic and responsive.
Almost every inch of the route was lined with enthusiastic supporters and lamp posts were adorned with motivational messages, infused with the kind of humour guaranteed to raise a smile.
The live musical entertainment was nothing less than sensational, with bands raging from the traditional ‘Kaapse Klopse’, to conventional jazz bands, percussion ensembles of every possible description, pop music blaring from speakers, and even a lone violinist playing unaccompanied Bach. They were there to lift flagging spirits at every critical point, and performed heroically.
Wilson Kipsang, the Kenyan marathon world record holder and winner of the London marathon 2014 was guest of honour, and presented the winners and other elite athletes with their medals.
Plans for Next Year, 2015
Having now officially been admitted to the lower reaches of the TRC’s band of ultra-marathon runners, otherwise known as the 'Loonies’, the period ahead will have to be dedicated to becoming a better runner, if I am ever to accomplish some of the 100 milers which the ‘Loonies’ churn out on such a regular basis.
OMTOM 2015 is scheduled for Saturday 4th April and I fully intend to be on the start line once again, hopefully even better prepared and above all, injury free.
Anyone care to join me?
