Will we ever race again?
They say be careful what you wish for. There have been times when I’ve thought, ‘‘I wouldn’t be unhappy if I never ran another race in my life’’. I love to run, and hope to run for as long as I can but I’ve gone through phases where the racing itself just hasn’t appealed. Sometimes I’ve hated it. And then all the races stopped.
Covid-19 swept through the running calendar like a tornado, putting an immediate halt to everything. Trail series, road races, club crosscountry races – everything was wiped out, leaving runners everywhere wondering, ‘‘When will I ever race again? And when we can, what will it be like?’’
On the Dirt Church Radio podcast this week, cohost Matt Rayment and I spoke with Chris Hope, who owns Running Calendar, websites that list events in New Zealand and Australia.
It’s a phenomenal resource that has been going for 10 years – think of a race you’d like to do anywhere, on any surface, and you’ll find one by searching on the site.
As a sign of the times, though, Hope has recently added a new function so you can filter out cancelled or postponed races.
He watched it all unfold online – and in real life. Hope also works as race crew for a couple of events companies, setting things up on race day.
On March 14, he was at the Maraetai Half Marathon. Afterwards, the race crew were having a drink together, speculating about what might happen.
‘‘We had another event coming up the next weekend, Run Albany, and we were like, ‘oh, that will probably go ahead’, and the Waterfront Half Marathon three weeks later, and we thought, ‘oh, that might be a little bit iffy’.
‘‘And then, by the middle of the week, we knew we weren’t doing either of those. And then, the following week, we were in lockdown, so it all changed very, very quickly.’’
And now, a few months later, we can only dream about pinning race numbers to our shirts, or collecting finisher medals – even me, a selfconfessed no great fan of races.
Because I’ve realised that races are not about what happens when the starting gun goes off, the surge of adrenaline that has many people charging off as if they’re an Olympic contender.
It’s about getting together with friends, catching up with people I don’t get to see often enough, seeing familiar faces and connecting with them with awave and a ‘‘good luck’’.
It’s also about the conversations you have with random strangers on the course. During the Tarawera Ultramarathon races I’ve done, for some reason I inevitably end up spending hours with Americans who’ve come to run this world-famous race. It’s fascinating finding out about each other’s lives in opposite hemispheres.
Now the prospect of that happening again seems so far away.
It’s natural we crave this interaction. Humans, after all, are social animals. And I’ve realised that it’s this I’ve missed about races. It’s not about the competitive instincts which, for me, used to burn so bright, but have now dimmed.
It’s about the people.
And so, while I was still able to keep running during lockdown, I really missed the social side of it. I missed my mates and even the people I don’t really know except to say hi to at races.
Chris Hope, has missed races too, and spent lots of time wondering what next? He has seen the trends over the past 10 years. He’s seen the growth in trail running events.
And even the emergence and near disappearance of some formats. ‘‘A few years ago, there was a real thing for themed runs, like colour runs, foam runs; in Australia, there was an inflatable obstacle course race.’’
And then there was the growth in what are called Backyard Ultras, where runners line up to complete one 6.67km lap each hour, and to keep going until they’re the only one left.
‘‘Suddenly they became really famous and there’s these Backyard Ultras all around the world. And what will come next?’’
For most of us, what we crave right now is just a simple, old, straight-forward race.
Hope says that, depending on what happens with Covid-19 alert levels, many event organisers are pencilling in September-october for a return to racing, albeit with possible changes to reduce the number of people gathering in one place at one time.
‘‘If you think about where the startline is, you have participants, you have supporters, you have event crew – those numbers all add up.’’
Pre-race briefings may move online, supporters may be restricted from certain areas, who knows? And ongoing travel restrictions will almost certainly keep overseas runners away for awhile yet.
Whatever unfolds, whenever it is, I’m looking forward to lining up again, saying hi to everyone. And I promise to be careful what I wish for.