Marathon man joins Comrades club
by Guy Williams · Otago Daily Times Online NewsQueenstown Parkrun co-founder Chris Seymour has just returned from his "longest and most difficult-ever run" — the 86km Comrades Marathon in South Africa.
That is quite the statement from the 50-year-old serial marathoner, whose resume includes running a 42km on every continent, and even running one on Arctic ice floes.
Seymour, who returned home yesterday, says last Sunday’s Comrades, which is regarded as one of the world’s most testing ultra-marathons, was an "incredible experience".
He was one of more than 20,000 runners in the ultra-marathon, which this year was the Up Run, gaining 1700m of elevation from Durban to Pietermaritzburg.
Finishing in 10 hours 54 minutes, he says it lived up to its reputation for toughness, courage and camaraderie.
"I had a decent first half, but had some trouble keeping nutrition in from about 60km.
"So many runners on the course would strike up a chat and welcome me to the race, as my bib showed this was my first Comrades."
He had been targeting the race since 2016, when he went to South Africa to run the Big 5 Marathon as part of his fundraising effort to run marathons on all seven continents.
"A grizzled South African bush ranger, smoking cigarettes, asked me about my marathon and then asked smugly, ‘but why haven’t you done Comrades?’
"That memory’s stuck in my brain for a decade, and I came to knock it over."
He’s now wondering if he’ll go back for next year’s 100th edition of the Comrades, thereby competing the Back to Back challenge with the Down Run.
Seymour’s not the first Queenstowner to complete the race — others that Mountain Scene is aware of include Adrian Bailey and Jim Castiglione — both in 2006 — and Andrew Blake.