Wilhelm du Plooy Two Oceans 2004

Wilhelm du Plooy, is a South African currently living in the UK, where he trained towards his Two Oceans 2004 Silver Challenge – TheEd

Definitely the world’s most beautiful marathon

It’s April, and that signals time for my annual pilgramige to South Africa to take part in what has been called the worlds most beautifull marathon. This year would be the fourth time I ran this awesome race. The previous three years the route was over Ou Kaapse weg due to Chapmans Peak still being closed for repairs, so this year would be the first time I ran this route.

My preparations went very well. Did my qualifying marathon in Oct’03 in 2:56 and then just kept ticking over running anything between 30 and 70 k’s a week. From the beginning January the serious training started. For most of January & February I had to run in the gym on a treadmill as the weather in the UK was not always favourable to train in. Normally I would have liked to run marathon 3-4 weeks before Oceans, but unfortunately the first UK marathon was on the 4th April, the day I flew back to South Africa. I had to be content to run 2 half marathons and do two long training runs of 42km & 47km on my own.

In total I was able to do 1300km worth of training from Jan to Mar. The last three weeks of training leading up to the 56km race didn’t go according to plan as I lost a bit of focus. This seemed to be a blessing in disguise on race day, as I was 100% rested to tackle my goal of getting another silver. It is widely acknowledged that Two Oceans is the most difficult race to obtain a silver medal in as the cut off time of 4 hours means that 14km/hour pace has to be held over the entire 56km. The route has two very distinctive climbs which makes running such a high average speed quite difficult. The first is Chapmans Peak which start at +/- 27km and lasts for 5km. The second, Constantia Neck, starts at 42km. and is a hard 2.8km climb.

I arrived in Cape Town on the Wednesday before the race and it was a stunning African sunshiny day. The temperature was around 26 degrees, and I was hoping that we would have clear weather on race day. This was not the case. On Friday the rain started. The registration process became a mess, as 18,000 runners had to collect their race numbers over a 3 day period. The bulk of those doing it on Friday. As in previous years this took place at the University of Cape Town’s sports grounds, and by the time we arrived there on Friday morning the sportsgrounds looked like a mudbath!! Just the thought of having another 18,000 people running over the same muddy ground the following day, must have been daunting for the organisors.

Race morning arrived and it meant a 04:30 wake up call. The race starts at 06:00 and luckily I was staying only a 5 minute drive from the start. It was still raining when we got to the start, and it was quite chilly. Like in last years race, the plan was to run with Yolandie Maclean(last years 5th placed lady). She was aiming for a time of 3:44, which would ensure her of a very good placing again. This would require us to run at a average of 4min/km over the whole 56km.

The race plan was to run 03:50/km till we get to Chapmans, where we would slow to 04:25/km. From there on go back to the 03:50/km pace till we get to Contantia Neck for more 04:25km’s and then back to 03:50/km pace again till the end.

At exactly 6 am we were off. Right from the start we were running right in target pace. The first quarter of the race(14km) was done in a time of 0:53:29 ie 03:49/km 100% on target. I was a little weary of Yolandi falling back a little, but I was only about 10/15 meters ahead of her the whole time, and would then fall back at water stations to hand her some fluids.

At the 21km mark(1:20:28 ie 03:50/km) there is a slight rise of about 20 meters as you turn into Kommetjie. All of a sudden I was 30 meters ahead of her and decided that I was going to have a better race than her today. So I stuck to my pace and started pulling away from her. It is very unfortunate that she was not able to stick with me, as the hardest part of the race was still ahead, and it’s always nice to run it with someone who knows you.

Half way & 28km passed in (1:48:10 ie 03:52/km). This was at the bottom of Ou Kaapse weg. At this stage I caught up with Farwa Mentoor, whom eventually placed 5th, and who is a favourite for a top 10 placing in this years Comrades Marathon over 89km. It was very nice to be able to run with her up to the top of Chapmans as we were running at the same pace, and therefore helped each other maintain a strong rhythm etc. I really enjoy hill running and pulled away as we reached the top. Going down the other side of Chapmans, my pace picked up again and I was running back on schedule as planned.

At this stage I was soaked right through with water. The rain has stopped in places, and then started again. By the time I got to the bottom of Chapman’s my shoes were soaked with water, and I could feel a blister starting to develop on my left foot due to the chafing of the wet socks etc. 42km and ¾ of the way went past in 2:43:38 ie. 03:54/km I was still feeling relatively strong, but was starting to feel the strain of running with wet shoes, the fast pace and having done a standard marathon already.

The next 14km of the race was going to hard, but I was prepared to to grit and bear it, because I knew I was on my way to run a fantastic time. Going up Constantia Neck was real daunting, and I slowed to 5:05/km for two km’s winding my way up. In marathons & ultra’s I use corn syrup to replenish energy etc. I used my 3 sachet at the bottom of Constantia, and as I reached the top I could actually feel the strength returning to my legs again. Only 11km to go and it was now a case of just ticking over and keeping going. Running relaxed and strongly I was passing runners by the dozens. Quite a big difference what a few minutes do to the amount of people on the road at this stage of the race. In the past two years I was about 10 to 12 minutes further down the field, and had lots more runners next to me.

50km was reached in 03:18:39 ie 03:58/km. One can clearly see how hard Constantia Neck is and what effect it has on the average speed. By now, my soaked shoes felt like a brick on each foot. Luckily I was not the only one that suffered. There was actually a few runners who took their shoes of and ran the last few km’s barefoot. As one nears the finish and runs the last 2 kilometres the crowds really starts cheering you on. Even in this miserable weather they were out in full force and literally carries you too the finish. As I ran into the sportsground I had to tiptoe through the mud. It was really a slippery mess, but I didn’t care.

Once again Two Oceans was my best race in my running year so far. I finished in a time of 3:43:19 ie 03:59/km. What a fantastic race. I broke my PB with 5 minutes and finished in 111th place. Really pleased with my effort, especially in such conditions. Silver medal number 4 is in the cupboard. Will definitely be back for number 5 next year!!

The split times for those interested :