Elands Marathon (there’s no such thing as an easy marathon)

Share:

Most people get injured when they run too much, I seem to get injured when I run too little. I had been taking it easy since the Mdantsane Marathon at the beginning of December with nothing longer than 10km and was just doing enough mileage to keep my beer belly in check. Let’s just say I was in a good equilibrium at the beginning of January when all of a sudden, I felt a pain at the top of my hip during my morning 10k.

Of course my immediate reaction was to try and ‘run it out’. After 5 km of steadily escalating agony, I finally breached my pain threshold and walked home. I was convinced it was a stress fracture but it later turned out to be a very badly strained gluteus medius which had detached from the bone (hence feeling like a stress fracture but with more ‘pull’).

Continue reading “Elands Marathon (there’s no such thing as an easy marathon)”
Share:

Mdantsane Marathon (Get in the ring)

Share:

The whole of South Africa slows down in December and good marathons are hard to find (but a hard marathon is always good to find). Luckily the Eastern Cape provides some festive cheer for the obsessive marathon runner, hosting the only two pre-Christmas options – the 1City Marathon in Gqeberha and the Mdantsane Marathon just outside East London. Unfortunately, this presents a Christmas predicament for the marathon enthusiast as they were both run on the first Saturday in December in 2024. Having run the 1City Marathon in 2023, Julian and I opted to head to Buffalo City and tackle the hills of Mdantsane.

Continue reading “Mdantsane Marathon (Get in the ring)”
Share:

2024 Marathon & Ultra Statistics

Share:

Total Events

There were a total of 129 events, comprising 106 standard marathons, 22 ultras and 1 combo (Benoni Northerns which offered a marathon and a 48k). This is 10 more than the pre-Covid number and the highest since I’ve been tracking marathons. On a personal note, I still have 29 (plus whatever new marathons arise in 2025 to run).

There were 16 new races (marathon unless otherwise noted): Air Force Base Makhado, Mapungubwe, Johannesburg City, Festival of Running, Gazamed, Lemo Mall, Nedbank Coastal Marathon, Musina, Mpumalanga, Masingita Mall, Makhuduthamaga Mayor’s, Fetakgomo Tubatse, Midvaal MADMAC, Waterberg, Hope Challenge and NRB Harriers Challenge.

Continue reading “2024 Marathon & Ultra Statistics”
Share:

Bluff Marathon (Ruff and Tuff with zero Fluff)

Share:

When someone introduces you to a friend or acquaintance with the caveat, “They’re from the Bluff”, this is a warning. It’s the equivalent of cautioning a friendly stranger that, “My dog bites!”

When you tell someone that you are running the Bluff Marathon, they recoil and give you a similar cautionary look – and whatever statement follows indicates, “That marathon bites!”

With 275 marathons under my belt, I decided it was finally time to see whether I could bite off more than I could chew at the Bluff Marathon – or whether this brutal route would chew me up and spit me out (or, as this is a double-lap course, I guess you could call that a case of “once bitten, twice shy”).

I had been told a lot about the Bluff. Some descriptions fail to live up to expectations. However, it took just a two-second scan of the Fynnlands Sports Club bar (which was also the registration venue and doubles as the Bluff AC clubhouse) to realise that the “Rough and tough and from Bluff” mantra was not propaganda. In fact, if anything the slogan is underhyped. Wearing baggies and a T-shirt, I was probably the most overdressed male at the venue (and by far the least tattooed). You’ll have to take my word for it as I was not about to take an unsolicited photograph and risk someone taking offence.

The Fynnlands Sports Club doubles as the Bluff AC clubhouse (they only serve doubles here – Coke mixer strictly optional).
Continue reading “Bluff Marathon (Ruff and Tuff with zero Fluff)”
Share:

Complete 2025 South African Road Marathon & Ultra Calendar

Share:

This article contains high level details and, where available, flyers, profiles and route maps for every 2025 South African road marathon and ultra. Updates will be made regularly as races are added, cancelled and confirmed.

Continue reading “Complete 2025 South African Road Marathon & Ultra Calendar”
Share:
Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: implode(): Argument #2 ($array) must be of type ?array, string given in /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisFollowButtonsToolParent.php:140 Stack trace: #0 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisFollowButtonsToolParent.php(140): implode(Array, '_') #1 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisFollowButtonsHorizontalTool.php(91): AddThisFollowButtonsToolParent::formatServicesForAddThisLayers(Array) #2 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisFeature.php(1148): AddThisFollowButtonsHorizontalTool->getAddThisLayers() #3 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisPlugin.php(695): AddThisFeature->getAddThisLayersTools() #4 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisPlugin.php(921): AddThisPlugin->getJavascriptForGlobalVariables() #5 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(324): AddThisPlugin->printAddThisWidgetScript('') #6 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(348): WP_Hook->apply_filters(NULL, Array) #7 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/plugin.php(517): WP_Hook->do_action(Array) #8 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/general-template.php(3080): do_action('wp_footer') #9 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/themes/twentyseventeen/footer.php(48): wp_footer() #10 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/template.php(810): require_once('/usr/www/users/...') #11 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/template.php(745): load_template('/usr/www/users/...', true, Array) #12 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/general-template.php(92): locate_template(Array, true, true, Array) #13 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/themes/twentyseventeen/archive.php(71): get_footer() #14 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/template-loader.php(106): include('/usr/www/users/...') #15 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-blog-header.php(19): require_once('/usr/www/users/...') #16 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/index.php(17): require('/usr/www/users/...') #17 {main} thrown in /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisFollowButtonsToolParent.php on line 140