Tag: qualifier marathon

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Zone 3 Marathon (A perfect spring clean)

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With a focus on running marathons I’ve not done before, I tend not to run much in my own backyard these days but fortunately RunZone keep adding and tweaking the CGA race calendar. They replaced their Autumn Challenge 48k with the inaugural aQuelle Zone 3 Marathon which necessitated another couple of laps around Randburg.

The 6am start was shifted to 6:10am due to traffic congestion but Alistair Cronk on microphone duties kept us informed and entertained. At one stage he asked who was here for an early Comrades and / or Two Oceans qualifier and almost all the marathon runners put up their hands.

However, some people were still getting used to the change of seasons and this was reflected in the attire of some runners as can be seen from the photo below.

Official Fashion Police Ruling: It’s OK to wear tracksuit pants if you’re still warming up to the idea of the new marathon season starting…
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Lemo Mall Marathon (A Mangaung Resurrection)

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[Marathon #281 / Unique Marathon #172 / 3 May 2025]

The first weekend of May is last chance saloon for many aspirant Comrades runners who still need to qualify and for those who’ve already secured their goal time it’s a last long run. There is a small minority, yours truly included, for whom the weekend provides a good excuse to run a marathon before winter properly sets in.

My choice of which marathon to run before the winter doldrums was made easier when I got an invite from Teboho Lemao to the second edition of the Lemo Mall Marathon. My frequent travel partners Julian and Farai were also on the guest list but unfortunately I was not able to travel early on Friday with them due to work commitments.

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Makoro Village Marathon (A Lekgowa Special)

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[Marathon #279 / Unique Marathon #171 / 22 March 2025]

As long as Limpopo continues to pump out the marathons, I’ll continue to keep heading north. Since it appeared on the running calendar in 2023, the Makoro Village Marathon has been on my radar and this year Julian and I travelled to Polokwane for the third running of the event.

Social running G.O.A.T. adds one more marathon to his collection.

The marathon is themed around Limpopo village lifestyle fusing traditional food, drinks and dance into the event and we were told to expect plenty of support from the local schoolkids who would be entertaining runners at various points along the route. The race is organised by Polokwane Athletic Club but is very different from the other races in their portfolio, all of which are ‘urban’ and centred around the city. This one is about an hour’s drive outside Polokwane City and provides an excellent opportunity to do some feral marathon running.

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

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[MARATHON #278 / 2nd Elands Marathon / 1 March 2025]

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’).

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