Acknowledgement One
“The Comrades Marathon” and its tag “The ultimate human race” the figure of Hermes and lots more, are copyrighted to the Comrades Marathon Association and so is its website and there are lots of conditions of use of the website that can be found there www.comrades.com. I recognise all these rights and take care not to infringe on them. I exercise the right fair comment, to talk about them when I want to and will seek permission when I feel in doubt.
Acknowledgement Two
Without the Comrades Marathon we would all be much the poorer in spirit and experience. Also, there would be no Comrades without the dedicated administrators, organisers paid and volunteers so they need to be acknowledged.
I am an unabashed supporter of the event, enthralled by its marvel, wary of its dark side. The shiver that flares up my spine from time to time comes from it.
I like the drama-theatre the Comrades Marathon creates and that it allows me to play a part and to write my own script, often in toenails and definitely in sweat. I also like the way it etches itself into my inner-thighs as I chafe away at my miles.
It’s only fair to say though that these writings are not approved or funded by the Comrades Marathon Association or its sponsors in anyway. If I don’t agree with what they say or do then the feeling would probably be mutual but hopefully never destructive.
Acknowledgement Three
The views expressed herein are my responsibility. Some ideas might have been generated by others and I will acknowledge them when I am aware of them. But I take all the blame and criticism of them. But are fired, melted and wrought and re-wrought in the forge of my running. I freely acknowledge all the profundities that that following have conveyed to me. What I did and do in Comrades and what I think about Comrades would have been less had it not been for them:
The Comrades Marathon Story by Morris Alexander. The work I have is the second edition published by Juta and Co in 1978. Maybe in spite of what it set out to document, it points to and relates the stories, sometimes in just one or two lines that led to the Comrades becoming the event that it is.
Everyones’s guide to distance running by Norrie Williamson,1993, Oxford University Press.
Lore of Running, Tim Noakes, 1989, Oxford University Press.
Running the Comrades, Bruce Fordyce, 1996, Delta Publishers
And old and passed on copy of Running and Being by George Sheehan together with at least some of his articles
The Comrades Marathon Website at www.comrades.com
The various Comrades publications produced by or for the Comrades and given to the runners
Those publications are practical and matter of fact. But they can barely contain the marvellous brew in the cauldron that gave rise to them. They helped me to find the richer part of Comrades.
Acknowledgement Four
Equally important in helping me talk about and understand my running, are the many runners with whom I have shared roads and trails. Some of them I got to know. Many others were more anonymous and even though I never had contact with them; they are all part of my running and my thinking, even the guys with funny hats.