There were lots of great supporter signs along the Comrades route but the one below held by this young lady in the Kloof area was my favourite. In fact, it was the only sign I took a picture of during the race. I thanked her and departed with the profound, “Cool daughters run Comrades when they are older!”
The sign seemed serendipitous as a short while before I was greeted by Michaela van Niekerk, the daughter half of a Jeppe running pair. Michaela thanked me for my stats and said that she’d featured as the 12th youngest female at this year’s race. Striding alongside was her dad, Dewald. He was a very proud father chaperoning his daughter on her maiden Comrades. I can’t remember exactly what Dewald said but I do remember choking up a little – such are the emotions when one runs the Ultimate Human Race.
We were running at a similar pace and I seemed to frequently overtake – and get overtaken by – the van Niekerks. Somewhere around Drummond, Dewald admitted that the roles had reversed and he was now being pulled along by Michaela. Dewald is a grizzled veteran with 22 Comrades medals on display at home. However, it was clear to even the casual observer that the student was now the master.
I should point out that this scenario is 100% consistent with my stats. Testosterone and ego are a handicap when it comes to running Comrades. Women pace much better than men and, on average, will run a much faster pace over every split in the second half. Women will also have a much faster average finish time compared to the men in their same batch. When I do my Comrades talk, I always tell the husbands, “Remember, if you are lucky enough to run with your wife, you are not pacing her – she is pacing you!” It looks like the same rule applies to fathers and daughters.
READ MORE: Run Like a Girl (A Guide to Optimal Pacing at the Comrades Marathon)
During subsequent interactions, I noted that Michaela was still fresh and alert whilst Dewald was a lot less chatty. On more than one occasion I overheard Michaela saying, “Dad, it’s time to start running again.” Like a good father, Dewald duly complied.
The stats also show that when you can smell the finish line you get a renewed burst of energy. Typically, well over half of the runners from slower batches will run their fastest average pace of the day over the final split from the top of Pollies to the finish.
As they climbed Polly Shortts, Dewald knew that their medals were waiting for them in Scottsville. Assured of a finish the energy, chirpiness and chattiness returned to his body. Whilst others were decrepit, shoegazing, hunchbacked zombies slowly lurching up Polly Shortts one slow and painful step at a time, Dewald suddenly straightened his back, puffed out his chest and launched into an eloquent speech.
Dewald was a very proud dad and let everyone around him know it. This was a great moment. The proudest of proud dad moments. I was just fortunate to be within earshot to hear it. Polly Shortts has brought many a tear to the eyes of a Comrades runner on the Up run and Dewald made sure that there were a few extra tears shed that day. The silent struggles up Polly Shortts were broken with his passionate and articulate words of parental pride.
For the first time in the day Michaela was starting to look a little flustered. Her dad was on a roll and there was no stopping him mid-flow. Given the right time and place, I do my best to embarrass my daughters on the odd occasion but Dewald was about to elevate his dadness into folklore.
Like a skilled Verimark telemarketer, Dewald concluded his tribute by announcing, “And best of all guys, can you believe she’s still single!” Whilst successfully completing Comrades should be enough for any aspirant suitors, our proud dad rattled off a list of additional qualities and attributes like her cooking skills and that she “Has a Business Science degree in Sports Studies and is busy studying a second degree.” Dewald also gave out his phone number (clearly he still wanted some say in the vetting process).
In a few short sentences Michaela’s dad was able to achieve what the Big Five hills at Comrades and the harsh KwaZulu Natal sun could not. The serene porcelain features of our young heroine suddenly had a rosy hue to them. Faced with this level of public dadbaressment, Michaela knew that she had only one defensive weapon in her armoury – run!
Despite this being the steepest part of the last and nastiest of Comrades’ hills, Michaela exploded into a sprint and probably covered the next 100 metres faster than Gerda had done earlier that morning.
Whilst this dad was admiring another dads’ next level accomplishment, it struck me that there was a level of risk that Dewald had not considered. As Michaela ran away into the distance, Dewald had no choice but to start running again as well.
I am not sure what happened next as I had no aspirations of running any part of Polly Shortts. Suffice to say that dad and daughter finished Comrades together in 10h40.
As for this dad, my daughters are still far too young to run Comrades and currently show no inclinations of wanting to do so at any stage in the future (but then again, I probably would have been voted person least likely to run a marathon at high school). I am not sure how many more Comrades I will do but I will definitely come out of retirement should either of my daughters say the magic words that every father wants to hear, “Dad, I want to run Comrades with you.”
And, fair warning, in the case that they are still single, I will definitely be emulating Dewald’s epic dad moves with a mobile oratory dating profile service as we summit Polly Shortts. In fact, I think I might even go one better than Dewald and print flyers…
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I must admit, that I had a really good laugh over your report. It is strange what distance running does to the mind, but the poor dad was very well meaning, even so, Polly Shortts is probably not the most ideal place to find a willing life partner for your daughter no matter how well qualified she is.
On a final note, when my daughter was in her late teens, she turned to me and told me that I had ruined the entire rest of her life, and I can’t even remember what I had said.
How you can remember this kind of detail whilst running comrades is beyond me. You have a gift of story telling. I enjoyed this one 😀