Paul Hinsley took on an incredible challenge, The Comrades Marathon in South Africa. Here Paul gives us an insight to the race.
Any race that starts with 1:30 hours bus trip is going to be hard. I had trained well I thought and was planning on a sub 10 hour finish: the Robert Mtshali medal. The vibe at the start was beyond any thing I’d encountered at previous marathons,truly inspiring. I had been warned not to start too fast, and kept to my planned race pace. At 20 km the hills were starting to steepen and by 30km I got cramp. By 40 km I was over taken by the 10.00 hours pacing group (bus) and had to reassess my finishing time. There were plenty of water/food stops so dehydration was never going to be an issue. Although called the ‘down run’ the number of hills ensures your legs are truly broken by the major desent. By this time at 70 km it was all l could do, to walk the uphills and try to regain time on the downs. The final 20 km were unrelenting particularly as I had by now missed my plan B finish time of under 11 hours.
Crossed the line at 11:08 (or 11:11 gun time)
In summary it had the vibe of London marathon a the elevation of the Boston marathon x 2.
I have no I intention of running the ‘up’ race next year!
Race Report credit to Paul Hinsley
Absolutely incredible achievement!
