Category: Other Stuff

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Getting Fresh with Luc Quevauvilliers on the Comrades Route

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I (quite literally) caught up with Luc Quevauvilliers, the “man in a can”, along the Comrades route. I’d written about Luc’s exploits after the 2025 event where he ran large sections of the Comrades route dressed up in a Rexona deodorant fancy dress outfit. This year Luc was in for the full canned hunting experience and ran the entire race in his remodelled Rexona outfit with trimmings and improvements for comfort and durability.

When I spoke to him afterwards he proudly told me, “Yes, I ran 100% of this year’s race in the Rexona outfit!” I didn’t want to open a can of worms and ask about toilet breaks but Luc happily volunteered, “Even when I peed, I was happy to realise I just could aim carefully and make sure I kept the outfit smelling good.”

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Comrades 2024 Full Field Stats

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This is part of a tetralogy of articles providing an in-depth statistical analysis of Comrades 2024. The articles on Elite Men, Elite Women and Start Line Stats are already available.

From the Cradle to the Grave

The graph below is a hurricane funnel answering the often-asked question, “What happens to all the entries?”, plotting the fate of the 24,094 Comrades 2024 entries. There was a 21.6% attrition rate to get to the start line which is very similar to the most recent Up runs in 2017 (20.8%) and 2019 (22.4%). However, almost 94% of starters crossed the finish line (although 350 of these did so over 12 hours).

The three percentages are based on total entries, starters and finishers respectively (e.g. 3.6% of entries finish under 7h30, 4.5% of starters and 4.9% of medallists). There is more detailed analysis on the medal breakdowns as well as overall finish success rates comparisons later in this article.

Note: The finisher numbers are for all people earning that medal or better. For example, the ‘Vic Clapham’ 17305 are all finishers (i.e. 12 hours or better) and the ‘Bronze’ 11398 is everyone finishing 11 hours or better (i.e. it includes all Bronze, RM, BR, etc. medals).
Continue reading “Comrades 2024 Full Field Stats”
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KZNA says “No More” to upcountry CMA Memberships

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At a KwaZulu Natal Athletics KZNA (Board meeting) on 25 July, a decision was made to bar non-KwaZulu Natal residents from being Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) Members.

The meeting seems to have had only this item on the agenda and the discussion, in what appears to be a flagrant conflict of interest, was driven by KZNA President and Comrades Board member Steve Mkasi. The other main contributors to the discussion were Deputy KZNA President Mandla Mngomezulu and KZNA Board Member Vusumuzi Dlamini.

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Making A Step Change (the simple hack to add 3 years to your life)

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Vitality and the London School of Economics analysed the fitness data of over 1 million members over a 10-year period and found some startling results. The good news is that you don’t need to run marathons for major health and longevity benefits.

Just 2,500 steps a day, three times a week sees significant benefits; 5,000 steps a day, three times a week drastically increases the benefits – and the ‘sweet spot’ is just 7,500 steps a day, three times a week. Make this a habit by completing 7,500 steps a day, three times a week for two years and you can expect to extend your life expectancy by three years if you’re female and 2.5 years if you’re male.

The step count ‘sweet spot’ is 7,500 steps a day (source: The Vitality Habit Index).
Continue reading “Making A Step Change (the simple hack to add 3 years to your life)”
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Two Oceans Ultra Marathon Cutoffs: Unedited Runner Stories

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The following are unedited correspondence I’ve received from various 2024 Two Oceans ultra runners who were impacted by the the marathon and Constantia Nek cutoffs. I have just removed any identifying text like names and race numbers.

I believe that this is a valuable resource to understand that there are always humans who are impacted in different ways by these unfortunate decisions. Some are angry, others disappointed, others disillusioned – there’s a wide variety of different emotions.

I will be publishing an in-depth analysis of the cutoff issue in the next few days (I’ve just received answers to my detailed questions from the Two Oceans Organisation). The article will draw from some of these stories.

Continue reading “Two Oceans Ultra Marathon Cutoffs: Unedited Runner Stories”
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June 16: The Story Behind the Photograph

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In the 1940s a young man called Sam Nzima, from a tiny village in rural Mpumalanga, was inspired by the beauty and animals in the nearby Kruger National Park to start taking photos. In another time and different circumstances he would have received fame, accolades and awards but today few people recognise his name – and it was only recently that he received any credit at all for a photograph that shaped South Africa’s history.

Whilst the photo is internationally acclaimed (Time Magazine selected it as one of the 100 most influential photos of all time*) and is instantly recognisable to South Africans, it brought the man who captured it nothing but misery and frustration.

Continue reading “June 16: The Story Behind the Photograph”
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A Behavioural Science Experiment to get Leaders to Complete an Agile Maturity Assessment

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When it comes to behavioural science, I am an enthusiastic amateur. I guess the same could be said for my marathon running infatuation which, although prolific with over 250 completed, is still firmly footed in the ‘recreational amateur’ category. My payslip reads ‘Agile Coach’ so I’d like to think that I’ve managed to breach the amateur category in my chosen career (but you might need to check with my colleagues to confirm whether I do indeed qualify as a professional). It’s not often that running, behavioural science and agile coaching intersect but recently they did, so I decided to use the opportunity to run an experiment and this is what happened. Continue reading “A Behavioural Science Experiment to get Leaders to Complete an Agile Maturity Assessment”

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Enhanced PI Planning Calculator

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If you’re doing PI (or Big Room) Planning across multiple geographies, it can be a challenge to schedule the event around public holidays and other events. I’ve enhanced the standard “ART and Team Events Calendar” spreadsheet that Scaled Agile provides within their “PI Planning Toolkit” to allow for much better visibility and customisation of dates. Continue reading “Enhanced PI Planning Calculator”

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