I was asked the other day, if I though it was possible to run a 5H10 Comrades Marathon? This got me thinking and I am sitting on the fence here. (I do think from time to time, despite what some of my friends may say, or tell you). 89km in 5H10! hmmmmmmm
Well if i said it wasn’t possible then I would probably be lying as anything is possible if you have the right frame of mind and the right training, you can do anything. If we take into consideration that to run a 5H20 which is the current Down Run record, which is held by Leonid Shvetsov, the man was in prime physical condition and the weather conditions on the day were almost perfect.
One had to run at a pace of in the region of 3 minutes 40 per kilometre. Which is a tough ask over that distance. But it was done, and not many at the time thought it was possible to run a 5H20. That was in 2007 and I came in 3rd.
If we look at the times of winners over the years, 85 of them to be precise these have come down from 8H59 (the first race 1921 Bill Rowen) to the 5H20 mark in 2007. The first time the 6H00 mark was broken was in 1975 by Derek Preiss, 5H53.49, and in the last 34 years the average winning time has only come down by 25 to 30 minutes. If we take this into account it would probably take another 20 odd years to get to the 5H10 mark. Yes these days we have supplements and energy boosters etc to assist us, but back in the 80`s there weren’t all these funny gels etc, so what makes the accomplishment of Bruce Fordyce so good, is that he was running consistently in the late 5H20 and early 5H30 bracket, with water and coke!
To run a 5H10 one would have to run on average 3 minutes 18 per kilometre over 89km, which is pretty much at almost full pace for the elite athletes, and not even on the radar for the average runner. So almost near impossible.
READ ON..
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