By James Deane on 06/06/2011 09:45

The Comrades Marathon is a 55mile point to point ultra marathon run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg in South Africa with the start and finish alternating each year.  As Durban is based on the coast and Pietermaritzburg is at 600m altitude inland the alternating runs are referred to as the Up and Down run.  2011 was an Up run and 2012 will be a down run.  Opinion varies as to which is the easier/faster/better direction to do as the the downhill sections on the down run over the distances involved conspire to be as damaging as  the up sections.  But there's only one way to really find out, do both yourself. 



The race has a long and legendary history with the 1st edition being run in 1921 in commemoration to the comrades that fell during the 1st World War and has been run every year since excluding the WWII years with 2011 constituting the 86th edition.  This is no backwater run.  2011's entry list ran to 19,000 and race day coverage runs from 5am to 6pm on the national TV station.  The Comrades...

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By James Deane on 16/05/2011 13:40

The 2 Oceans it is not!  The 2 Bays or the 2 Currents but not the 2 Oceans.  Cape Town is surrounded on both sides by the Atlantic Ocean.  The Indian Ocean in fact meets the Atlantic some 250km further south at the tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas. A commonly held misconception, even by the locals as demonstrated in the naming of arguably the most beautiful, interesting and challenging marathons around. 

 

Cape Town, Bon Esperance,  The Cape of Good Hope, The Cape of Storms or the Mother city to the locals and home to the mother of all marathons; The 2 Oceans Ultra Marathon at 56km is more than a marathon. A marathon and a third, exactly, to be precise. But it's even more than that. Founded in 1970 as a training race for the Comrades Ultra Marathon and now with 42 editions firmly under the belt it's older than any of the European big city marathons and the organisation of the event, like it's route, is breath takingly good.  The race is held on the Saturday morning on the Easter weekend each...

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By James Deane on 25/07/2008 11:03

When I've answered 'Roth', more often than not the very next question is ‘What is that?’  Roth is a small town about 40km south of Nuremberg, in Germany, and the destination of Europe's first every Ironman event.  Why the triathlon held there annually is not splashed all over the current Ironman sites relates to the fact that it’s no longer run under the Ironman brand.  One of the first 2 Germans to race at IM Hawaii was Detlef Kuhnel in 1982, a Roth local.  In 1984 he organised a short distance race in Roth and this graduated, in 1988, to the 1st Ironman Germany Race in Roth with the winner setting a world record time over the Ironman distance at the time. The race ran under the auspices of Ironman until 2001 when the organisers parted company with the Ironman brand.  During that time the race saw some super fast finishes with Luc v Lierde setting (and still holding) the world record of 7:50.27.

 

Since 2002 the race has been run by the Challenge organisation with Quelle as the front line sponsor...

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