Dusi Archives - The Running Mann

3rd April 20253rd April 2025

Benson & Legends (Ian Benson’s 40th Two Oceans ultra marathon)

Prelude

When doing research on living legends in the running space like Ian Benson, a rich source of information are their club mates. I therefore asked a mutual friend, David Case, if he has any anecdotes, stories or snippets that he could share with me. David started his description of Ian with, “He’s a typical macho male.”

David is something of a kindred spirit when it comes to beer and, as is typical of his kind, framed the follow-up sentence in a drinking context, “Ian is always in the bar but he’s not one to be holding up the bar.*”

* After writing this article, I have to say that I think David got this one wrong as it would be more appropriate to say that Ian is normally the one ‘raising the bar’.

7th March 201820th September 2018

Maritzburg City Marathon (A Return To The Mainstream)

[MARATHON #178 / UNIQUE MARATHON #95 / 25 FEBRUARY 2018]

As a marathon running connoisseur, I consider small town marathons to be the craft beer of the running world – they’re harder to locate, are a bit more expensive to consume and should always be savoured rather than sprinted. Having consumed five fantastic craft marathons already in 2018, it was with some trepidation that I approached a return to the mainstream for the Witness Maritzburg City Marathon, the biggest standard marathon in Kwazulu Natal.

It’s nice to stand in front of the Pietermaritzburg City Hall with just 15km left to run during the Maritzburg City Marathon. Will be standing here again on 10 June (along with 20,000 other Comrades) with a slightly more daunting 90.1km to go.

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