Going out with a long run at the Comrades Marathon

This week’s blog is about a friend taking on an epic challenge this spring.

Andrea Moritz

Andrea is a 48-year-old runner who also goes by Andi, Bintou or Crash (a nickname she earned while trail running). She lives in the country’s capital with her partner Marc, step daughter Juliette, two cats and a puppy named Madiba in honour of the great Nelson Mandela.

I saw Moritz grow from new runner, to marathoner and then to ultramarathoner. We both used to live on the east coast and found ourselves in the same town many years later. I recently found out that Moritz  may well be running her final long run.

Moritz  is a tall, strong Canadian runner now living in Ottawa. She has run many races and runs (including a run across Gambia in 2011 for charity). She will need that strength this spring as she takes on one of the bigger challenges she has ever tackled, one that could be her last on foot. After having double knee surgery last spring, he surgeon told her no more running.

“So this will likely be my good-bye to running my favourite race in the world, although it is not likely to end my involvement in Comrades,” says Moritz.

The Unogwaja

This challenge is not for the faint of heart or legs. It is a 1,660-kilometre, 10-day bike followed by running the famous South African 84-kilometre Comrades Marathon. The event was inspired by Phil Masterton-Smith, a Comrades Marathon winner who during the Great Depression, found himself without enough money to buy a train ticket to run the race he had won before. Undeterred by this obstacle, he cycled the 1,800 hilly kilometers to get to the race. And he still managed to place 10th.

The Unogwaja was inspired by the courage of this runner. Masterton-Smith was nicknamed the Unogwaja. The terms is the Zulu word for hare. Masterton-Smith was given this name after his bouncy, jackrabbit-like running style.

The Unogwaja is more than a challenge. It also supports Vukusebenze Shelter, where people who find themselves in difficult circumstances can find a place to stay and learn a skill that will help them become self-sufficient again.

I had the chance to ask Moritz why she chose this as possibly her last run. Here’s what she had to say:

NP: Why did you choose this challenge and cause?

AM: I have a passion for Africa and admire the resilience and spirit of her people. I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth and have met people along my personal journey who were great role models and encouraged me to follow my dreams and showed me what was possible if I put my heart and mind into something. I want to pay it forward by being this role model to others.

I don’t believe in hand outs, but in giving people what they need to help themselves. That’s what the projects we support through the Unogwaja do and with each person we enable, more will be empowered by them.

See you out on the roads!

Do you have a running story to tell? Catch me at runningwriter@hotmail.com, on Twitter at @NoelPaine or on my personal blog No Paine No Gain.