Callies Comrades Legends Race Report

Race Name	Callies Comrades Legends  This year the race celebrates Mercer Davies, a Comrades winner in 1957 and holder of 5 gold medals.
	Germiston Callies Harriers
Distance	32km, 15km
Start Time & Venue	6.30am, Germiston Stadium, Delville Rd North, Delville, Germiston
Entry Fee	R40.00 for the 15km	2
Entry Process & Number Collection	We did a late entry on the morning of the race.	2
Goody Bag/T-Shirt	No goody bag and no t-shirt to late entries – only the first 500 entries were eligible for t-shirts.	2
Travel arrangements	Fortunately the race had a 6.30am start so we fetched Alan at 5am (same time that my run last week started).  We had VIP parking in the stadium grounds and because we arrived relatively early, there were no queues for our entry.  We waited in the car until time to drop our bags at the tent and get to the start.	2
Race Start	We put our bags at the RWFL and I reluctantly took off my jumper – it is fresh in the early mornings now and the sun wasn’t up yet.  We made our way to the start where Ian took a picture of me with my SA Flag that I was running with for International Running Flag of Friendship. I also met up with Johann at the start.  He is the author of the blog RunTallWalkTall and he has also started the International Running Flag of Friendship. Again, the race started a little late because there was still such a queue for entries.  I didn’t notice the late start because I was chatting with Johann and Karen but there were a number of people moaning about it at the finish.	2
Personal Race Experience	I ran most of the race with Stanley from Rockies until I turned off at 9km.  It was lovely to hear about his previous Comrades Marathon races. My right leg was a little sore, nothing that stopped me from running but I was glad that I wasn’t running the 32km.  When I did this race last year “I walked over the bridge @ 7km and up hilly road @ 11km” according to my log book.  This year I ran all except when getting water and Coke at the watering tables.  I enjoyed the race and was happy with my time – 10 minutes faster than last year and I wasn’t even trying.	2
Race Route	The 32km is rated 4 according to the Nedbank Runners Guide.  “Both the 32 and 15 start off fairly well with little to complain about, nice and easy does it.  The fields split at around nine kilometres and herein lies the story of two races.  For those who chose the short route home, the run is nice, pretty and flat… The watering points were good – well manned & well stocked  – Thank You!	2
Race Finish	It was nice to finish on a real athletics track since it’s not often that we do. My flag finished the race with me – in my hand the entire time.  It is now ready to be stitched onto the big flag and passed on to another runner. Ian found shoe repair man at the finish and his shoes really needed repairing.  His shoes were so badly worn on the heels and I am (obviously) determined that he doesn’t need to spend R1000 on a new pair – he has perfectly good bare feet.  So, as our "negotiations” continue, he spent R80 having his shoe heels redone.  It was quite a wait, so Alan queued up for pancakes after his 32km run in a time of 2:31:50.	2
Race results	I finished at about 1:37 – will wait for the official results since I didn’t start my until I crossed the start line and I wasn’t paying attention to the official clock at the finish. Ian and Karen ran under 1:30:00 which was Ian’s goal. will be available on the www.raceresults.co.za website, usually in a couple of weeks.	2
Total	The race gets full marks and it is a race that I will run again.	18