Race Report: Big 5 Marathon
Entabeni Game Reserve, Limpopo Province, South Africa (28 June 2008)
By Stuart Mann, participant in The Big Five Marathon 2008

“WOW!” is the best way to describe this route. 42kms through a pristine game reserve in the Waterberg district in South Africa is about as good as it gets for this marathon runner. Throw in large herds of antelope (and the odd giraffe) for spectators, an incredibly tough course and excellent organisation to produce the recipe for one of South Africa’s great races. Proceeds from the race go to a good cause, the South African Red Cross Society, and this year they had an anti-Xenophobia campaign.

A route that makes you want to run forever (almost)
The route is simply fantastic. This was the second time in my life (the first was my maiden Knysna marathon) that I enjoyed a course so much that I found myself half dreading each kilometre board (although I have to admit that relief definitely started to overpower this dread towards the end!). One thing that you do have to be careful of is not admiring the spectacular surroundings too much or you are liable to step in a large pile of elephant-style bran muffins. As the name suggests the race is run in Big 5 territory with rangers out to “marshal” the more dangerous animals (dodging rhinos seems to be the biggest challenge).

Unfortunately, my wife Kathy and I arrived too late to take in the Friday afternoon pre-race route inspection - but this was a good thing from Kathy’s perspective because she would not have done the half marathon if she knew what she was in for (this is a tough half marathon to tackle when you're three months pregnant)! Apparently it takes 2 hours just to drive the race route in a Land Cruiser.

A brisk start
The temperature on race morning was very brisk and the 10-minute drive from our lodge to the start in an open game vehicle was really quite unpleasant (my nose felt like it had just ridden through the Rocky Mountains on a moped). Tea and coffee were a welcome relief to warm up the runners before the 8am start.

The first kilometre is a gentle downhill before the fun starts with a climb of about 350m over 9kms to the highest point on the course (1714m according to Garmin). After about 2kms of climbing the initial pacesetters were reduced to a walk and I was very surprised to find myself lying in second position. I was definitely not planning on racing and did not want to get caught up in the excitement and kill my legs two weeks before Knysna so I stopped for a few photos and slipped out of the top 10 and into a more leisurely pace.

After negotiating the initial climb there are a few easy kilometres of gentle downhill before a 2.5km plummet (the drop is about 400m) that completely annihilates the quads. At this point in the race you cross paths with the half marathoners who are on their way back up the hill and my friendly greetings were returned with nothing but vacant-eyed stares of distress and horror. I hoped that I would look better when I made my way back up to the top, but first one had to negotiate an eight-kilometre loop in lion country…

A stroll in lion country
There are 12 lions on the lower part of the reserve. I suspect that part of the reason for the latish start is to allow the (hopefully well-fed) pride to settle into their mid-morning slumber. Apparently, one of the rangers spent 36 hours with the pride to ensure that their location was known and that they didn’t pick off the weaker runners. Thankfully the only sign of lions that I saw were some (fairly) fresh tracks on the sandy part of the route but fortunately it looked like they were heading in the other direction.

During this part of the course I was reminded of the saying that, “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows that it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows that it must out run the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It does not matter whether you are a lion or gazelle. When the sun comes up in Africa you had better be running.”
Fresh lion spoor - fortunately it looks like he
was heading in the opposite direction

Bigfoot on monster hill
When you are a runner in Africa you know that you can’t outrun any lion but that is OK because all you have to do is run faster than the next guy! Fortunately, this part of the route is predominantly run on a soft, sandy surface that makes running difficult for most people. However my big, flat feet, clumsy over rocky surfaces, gave me a distinct advantage and I found myself overtaking several runners on this stretch before facing the monster hill again. There are segments that are at a 43-degree angle and it doesn’t matter if your surname’s Gebrselassie but you walk a hill that steep!

I managed to run the “flatter” parts and overtook a few Danish runners who were now looking pretty weary. To put things into perspective the highest point in Denmark is 151 metres above sea level and one climbs much more than this over the steepest 1000m of the hill. During the long and painful climb the sadist in me got to thinking that, as this is a ChampionChip race, they should put a mat at the foot of the hill and then award a “king (or queen) of the mountain” prize to the person who makes the fastest ascent. This would be pure evil but there are probably a few idiots like myself that would rise to the challenge!

A strong finish
After summiting, there is a pleasant 3km downhill before another nasty climb of the same distance followed by another fast downhill section. At around this stage I was informed during a water table chat that I was in fourth place and should “hamba” (Zulu for “leave”). So, with the third place runner within my sights I decided to pick up the pace and soon found myself in third place and feeling strong.

Just to make sure that you don’t get complacent there is another lengthy climb, after which the lake (that gives Lakeside Lodge, the location of the finish, it’s name) comes into view far beneath you and you know that it must be all downhill for the last 2.5kms. Although you are much higher than the finish point they somehow manage to sneak in one last, nasty hill before you fly through to a friendly finish!

This is perhaps the only race in the country where every runner is greeted by name as they come into the finishing straight and is personally handed their medal and given a handshake or hug by the race organiser – and this friendly vibe continues until the last runner makes their way across the line all the way to the seven hour cut-off. Note – if you want a more vocal finish you should aim to finish before 13h00, as this is when lunch is served and much of the support disappears!

Beautiful but tough
Considering the time spent on photographic exploits, several water table chats and a handful of territorial markings, I was pleased with my time of 4:01 – especially since this was good enough to hold onto third place. In keeping with the Big 5 theme, the first three men and women receive a striking and elegant wooden carving of one of the Big 5 (my lion is going straight to the pool room!). I commiserated with my new Danish friend, Claus, (who I relieved of third place a few kilometres from the finish) that the organisers should keep strictly to the Big 5 theme and fleshed out the awards ceremony with the missing buffalo and leopard trophies.

This race definitely pushes Voet of Afrika into second place on the “toughest standard marathon I’ve run” list. The event concludes with a gala dinner on Saturday evening and there was plenty of spit-braaied lamb and impala to satisfy everyone’s protein replenishment programme.

The company that organises this race organises three others that also look very interesting:
1. The Great Wall Marathon in China www.great-wall-marathon.com
2. The Polar Circle Marathon in Greenland www.polar-circle-marathon.com
3. The Great Tibetan Marathon www.great-tibetan-marathon.com

Hopefully, I can work one into a business trip or holiday sometime!