Weskus Marathon
UPDATE ON THE TEMP FROM THE RACE ORGANIZERS:
“The temperature was 25⁰C at 05:30 at the starting point on the beach and by 09:30 it was 41⁰C on the route. At 12:00 it was 43⁰C on the route. This is probably the worst heat that you have run a race in and hopefully the worst you will ever run in. Those of you who bailed, probably made a better decision than those who finished, but it is understandable that many runners were trying to qualify for Two Oceans, and that is the only reason why the race was not called off at around 10:00, when the referees seriously considered to do it.”
On the 19th I ran my first marathon, starting in the Weskus Nature reserve and finishing in Langebaan. I finished in 4h40, which was quite reasonable given that it was around 40C for the vast majority of the race.
Brink and I spent the previous day picking up our registrations and heading for a campsite in Veldrif (about 20 mins from the start) where we had a lot of fun trying to pitch our tents. The plan was for us to stay there, run the next morning and then for the families to come join us for a camping weekend. Eventually we got the tents standing just enough to sleep in and headed for a great little restaurant/bar called Soverby Lapa close to Dwarskersbos. The meal included a Jerry Springer-like scene at the next table where a rather fat woman was berating her Russian lover for only wanting to love her, once she lost wait.
It wasn’t hard to get up at 4am in the morning since I didn’t sleep at all, which was a combination of the fact that I was nervous about the race, my air-mattress didn’t inflate and our neighbors in the campground was up all night until 4.30am when we drove off. When we got to where the buses had to pick us up for the 45mins ride to the start, we were told that not all the scheduled buses turned up and we’d have to wait till the ones that already left came back to pick us up, and that the race will be delayed. After about 90 mins the buses came and we all squeezed in to the first 4 even though it turned out there were a lot more buses than we thought. As we got close to the start we were shocked to see runners already running! Turned out the organizers decided to run 2 races, one for those there at 6h30, the original start time, and another for the 400-odd that came in the second wave.
We started at 7h40 and the first hour was bliss, the second hour started to get quite hot and when the 18 & 21km water stations ran out of water things started to look bleak. Since there was an out and back loop at that point they used the same station for both stops and that obviously didn’t cater for enough water! That meant that between 15km and 25km there was only 1 stop and that one didn’t’ have enough water.
At 23km I started walking for the first time. Brink was about 12 mins ahead of me at this point. I waqs about as happy as one person could be when I got to the 25km water-hole and luckily the people there were waiting with ice-water to pour over the runners…they even had beer there, but I passed on that. After that I ran mostly but walked a lot until abo0ut 30kms when my second wind came and I ran most of the way from about 31km till 39km where the massive hill was. This thing was called the Black Mamba every few meters you will see a picture of the mamba with a sign saying you conquered the tail now only 400m to go, then you are at the head, just 100m to go, etc. I walked up uit as fast as I could and probably passed 30 people.
During this 30-39km stretch it became apparent that people were not taking the heat well and the ambulances came flying passed with stricken runners in them. A few bus loads of people that gave up further back also came by. The last 2km after the top of the Black Mamba was steep downhill to the finish. This was the only time I had physical discomfort since I small blister started forming on the bottom of my right foot and every step made it worse. I almost cried when I came around the last bend, the feeling that I actually survived this ordeal was quite an emotional experience.
Turns out about 650 people finished the first race that started at 6h30 and only about 170 finished the second race that started at 7h40. My guess is that at least 400 people started the second race, which would mean more than 1/2 didn’t make it to the end. Brink came in 44th (4h15) and my time of 4h40 was good enough for 81st. Overall I was 336th out of about 812 finishers (Brink was 180th) and about 1200 entered the race.
After finishing I walked back to where the car was supposed to be, but after walking for about 1km I realized it wasn’t there and that Brink must have moved it. So I headed back where I found first the car by the finish and then Brink by the massage tables. I felt quite good with no stiffness at all, not even after the next night’s sleep. Quite shocking, given how bad I felt after my first half-marathon in San Jose in 2008.
Next big race will be the Voet van Afrika Marathon in October 2011.
We camped the night, but the next morning it was a bit rainy so we all packed up and did a potjie at our house instead!