GOING THE DISTANCE

Gijimas 50km tough but vital run on the Border

The 50km ultra-marathon from Zwelitsha to Mdantsane is on, one month earlier than the inaugural run last year.

Real Gijimas took the bold step in 2018 of adding the 50km race to their impressive repertoire of races and it worked.

No, they did not attract thousands and nor did they attract a major corporate sponsor. What they did though was to doggedly pursue what they perceived to be a gap in the local running calendar, and as such the running market or fraternity.

The 2019 chapter of the race will be run on Sunday, March 31.

In evaluating the decision to launch a 50km race in the very competitive market of ultra marathon running, it should be borne in mind that this is a club that was formed in the early 1980s in the height of political and social unrest during the oppressive apartheid era.

They understood tough then and still do now.

Gijimas, as most runners call them, launched their first road race in Mdantsane as a 10km.

It was not, in that area of Buffalo City, going to be fast, and to attract runners to the sprawling hills of Mdantsane would take something exceptional.

It would, in addition, like any road race, take time to capture the imagination of the market.

And it did. It wasn’t the hills that won the runners over, it was the friendly disposition of the ordinary folk that lined the streets and shouted words of encouragement.

They sang and danced at the start and again at the finish. The atmosphere was so different to the more staid nature of the city.

The success of the 10km gave vent to the need for a half marathon. The marketing hook on this occasion was “run the toughest half marathon in the province”.

It has worked, and the third running of the Bridle Drift Half Marathon realised a record field just last month.

The 50km ultra is the smallest of the club’s races, the fourth one being a 15km that takes to the roads of the same Mdantsane in December.

The Comrades Marathon continues to dominate the road running scene, and that in turn provides a mind set and a large body of runners who will seek less taxing ultra distances as part of their build up to the KZN classic. Just as the 10km has grown in popularity and the half marathon has blossomed as a tester for any serious road runner, the 50km is likely to be used as a qualifier for other similar races, a trainer for Two Oceans or Comrades, or simply a reason to run further than the 42,2km of a standard marathon.

The race this year will again be without a headline sponsor but, unfazed, Real Gijimas will soldier on and continue to build on their reputation of going where many others fear to tread.

A sponsor, or band of sponsors, will eventually see the merits of a partnership with South Africa’s oldest “township” club – a term of endearment to thousands of runners who grew up in the bad old days – black and white.