Pirates Archives - The Running Mann

4th April 2025

The P.I.R.A.T.E.S. Code

I asked 41-time Two Oceans ultra marathon finisher Mark Raubenheimer for a “few quotes, comments and / or anecdotes” on Ian Benson for the article I was writing on Ian’s 40th Two Oceans.

A couple of days later Mark sent me back an email saying, “I think I ended up going down a rabbit warren when you reached out to me. I wrote this as an article but am not precious about it so happy for you to use the content as you see fit.”

Pirates clearly have a tendency to go ‘overboard’ (although I understand this is known as ‘walking the plank’ in Greenside lingo).

I did use a few segments in my main article on Ian (Benson & Legends (Ian Benson’s 40th Two Oceans ultra marathon)) but I thought this would be an ideal guest blog. So here it is courtesy of Mark Raubenheimer…

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’.

27th March 202027th March 2020

Hemel & Aarde Marathon (Leap year running)

[MARATHON #239 / Unique Marathon #139 / 29 February 2020]

For the last few years, my daughters’ mid-term break had provided the opportunity for the family to have a short holiday (and for dad to run a new marathon). This year it was down to the Fairest Cape for the inaugural Hemel and Aarde Marathon, run between Caledon and Hermanus.

For those unfamiliar with Afrikaans, ‘Hemel’ means Heaven and ‘Aarde’ means Earth. Despite what Belinda Carlisle sang in the 80s, Heaven is not a place on Earth, but the Hemel and Aarde is a marathon in the Western Cape.

Heaven might not be a place on earth but Hemel and Aarde is a marathon (and a valley) in the Western Cape.

Continue reading “Hemel & Aarde Marathon (Leap year running)”

7th December 2019

Golden Gate Marathon (The National Park run)

[MARATHON #227 / UNIQUE MARATHON #130 / 5 October 2019]

In South Africa we are privileged to be able to run several marathons inside our National Parks and World Heritage Sites. I am always keen for the chance to add another National Park run to my collection and therefore jumped at the opportunity to enter the inaugural Clarens Golden Gate Marathon.

Having run Surrender Hill Marathon in Clarens earlier this year, I was familiar with the scenery (= stunning) and terrain (= gruelling) so I knew we could expect a run of unsurpassed beauty and unrelenting hills just down the road in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. Continue reading “Golden Gate Marathon (The National Park run)”