Sims, the man who displayed true grit
THE 1980’s were the golden years of roadrunning in South Africa and indeed in the Border-Kei region too.
In respect of racing anything from 10km to 90km and more, local runners performed with distinction.
At Two Oceans there were individuals who may have surprised their opposition at times, but their determination, planning, training methods and club and provincial structures ensured that the climate was perfect for them to peak at the right time and as such were not a surprise to themselves.
In 1983 one such young runner ran his second Two Oceans Marathon and improved his race position from 122nd to 16th, and his time from 3:51:47 to 3:27:05. That meant that he was just six places out of the gold medals.
So it was that Rodwell Sims, a former Hudson Park High School track and crosscountry star, sat down with his personal coach, the late Kevin Flint and began planning an assault on his third Two Oceans Marathon in 1984.
Bearing in mind that 1983 had been the year of local marathon star, Gordon Shaw winning the Buffs Marathon from Bruce Fordyce and then finishing second at Comrades. Thus local confidence was high.
As 1984 dawned Sims ran a 2:32 marathon carrying a slight injury and not close to his best. Probably, Sims agrees, it was a blessing for the coming ultra-marathon.
“The training went well,” he enthuses, although surprisingly to most of today’s ultra runners it was quite light in mileage, averaging around 100km per week.
The race plan was to run around 3:20 plus and what happened position-wise happened. Sims admits he started far too fast, a common mistake on Two Oceans, which has such a fast first half.
The only thing to do therefore was to throw away his race schedule and just run as best his legs would carry him.
Heading towards the finish Sims lay in ninth position, a gold secured, or so he hoped. As he approached the finish at Brookside in Cape Town, local runner Bruce Mathews, caught him and went passed. Tenth and final gold medal position was not a comfortable place to be.
Sims knew that if Mathews had come pass, Geoff Bacon would not be far off. He asked Mathews, who replied that “as long as you hang on to my heels, he will not catch you”.
There was more danger however, with veteran runner Trevor Metcalf approaching.
It was so close that at one stage positions 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were all on the finish fields at the same time.
Sims hung on grimly and won his gold medal in 3:22:03.
Sims’ 1984 run is an example of how to put a plan of action into place and how to adapt if things go awry. Whether you run a six, five or four-hour Oceans, the principles are the same.
Sims admits that as right as they got it in 1984, 1985 would provide a huge wakeup call. He says he thought, as so many do, if he did so many kilometres at a certain pace in 1984, and in 1985 he did more kilometres than the previous year and did them faster in training, he would have an even better race.
That does not apply and again it did not. His 1985 time was 33:27 slower and he battled to hold on to a silver medal for a sub-4hr with a 4:30 cushion. Lesson learned.
Sims was a tough runner and he would bounce back at various races and distances and finished his Two Oceans career with 10 silver and the one gold medal.
It can be done, all it takes application, planning and belief.
There have to be many more gold medallists out in our province, but are they hungry enough? is coaching,