Cape crowd loves the joy of Komani runners
Athletes return with 15 Two Oceans medals
omani Runners Club, also called ‘The Blue Nation’, returned from the Two Oceans Ultra-Marathon on Saturday with three Sainsbury medals, six bronze medals and six blue medals.
The club had a strong showing with 18 runners at the ultra-marathon with 15 athletes participating in the 56km race and three in the 21km stretch.
Club secretary Linda Ndongeni described the start of the “big day” as warm and early, kicking off at 5.15am in Newlands and finishing at UCT.
Ndongeni said the route was beautiful and scenic, taking
Kthem through the stunning mountainscape of Chapman ’ s Peak, the ocean at Muizenberg, and forests in Newlands.
He explained that gold medals are only awarded to the first 10 athletes to finish.
But it took commitment and focus to reach the level of fitness required for the race. Training for the race and others was an amazing form of therapy for the unemployed, he said.
Winning a silver meant coming in under four hours, and winning one next time had become an internal contest for the club, he said.
The three Sainsbury medals were awarded to their runners who finished under five hours, the bronze medals for coming in under six hours, and the blue medals for finishing under seven hours.
Ndongeni said the public support on the side of the road was phenomenal.
“The Blue Nation gladly enjoyed the spirited support from thousands of spectators from all over the city who converged on the route and shouted for the Komani runners.
“We consider the Two Oceans Marathon as psychological training for our Comrades runners. The atmosphere is similar to Comrades, and it helps our athletes stay focused on their goals. To prepare our runners for these big races, our club has weekly training programs and long runs on Saturdays.”
Ndongeni stated that the team will hold their 60km Comrades training run on May 12, with runners setting off from Cathcart and finishing at the Komani Ultracity. This would be the team’s last major training session before the Comrades on June 9 in Durban.