ARD REPRESENTING AT COMRADES 2015
Another Comrades has come and gone but will not be forgotten! 2015 saw a record number of ARD runners lining up at the starting line in Durban. Even more, ARD had a record breaking number of supporters along the road. It is hard to believe that just four years ago there was less than a handful of ARD representation at Comrades.
After five hard months of training, 20 ARD runners took their places in the starting chutes to brave the incredible journey from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, a daunting 88km’s. The route was exceptionally difficult, with one major climb after another. Our runners would climb a total of over 2000m in this race. To put that in perspective, in five months I managed to climb 5 000m in 1200km’s of training runs.
The ARD warriors who completed five months of training were:
Yusie Kariem (First Comrades Attempt)
Abduragiem Pathan (First Comrades Attempt)
Rafiek Roberts (First Comrades Attempt)
Shaheem De Vries (First Comrades Attempt)
Hoosain Achmat (First Comrades Attempt)
Ebrahim Jassiem (First Comrades Attempt)
Johnhamish Manuel (First Comrades Attempt)
Yazid Ebrahim (First Comrades Attempt)
Shaheed Adams (Second Comrades Attempt)
Zahid Ebrahim (Second Comrades Attempt)
Abdul-Muiz Lewin (Third Comrades Attempt)
Ebrahim Khan (Third Comrades Attempt)
Shanaaz Kariem (One Comrades Medal)
Rita Lategan (Two Comrades Medals)
Suzie Germs (Two Comrades Medals)
Binyamien Kariem (Two Comrades Medals)
Shane Jacobs (Two Comrades Medals)
Mervin Lakay (Four Comrades Medals)
Achmat Salie (Four Comrades Medals)
Satish Ramsavak (Twenty-three Comrades Medals)
After 12 gruelling hours of running, ARD saw ten of their brave warriors cross the finish line. Among those were Bienyamien Kariem and Shaheem de Vries, who ran the entire route together in a time of 10:55:22 followed by Shane Jacobs coming in at 11:30:50. Following in Bienyamien and Shaheem’s example, Rafiek Roberts and Suzie Germs started and finished the race side by side in a time of 11:44:22. Mervin Lakay and Hoosain Achmat were right on their heels with times of 11:45:57 and 11:46:23 respectively. Satish Ramsavak completed his 23rd Comrades run in a time of 11:49:26 followed by Rita Lategan conquering her first up run and achieving her 3rd Comrades medal in a time of 11:53:26. Ebrahim Khan had a comfortable finish with a time of 11:57:20 earning him his first Comrades medal.
The success of our runners would not have been possible without all the love, support and encouragement from our fellow ARD members back home and especially those along the route. You didn’t hesitate to change our sweaty and stinky socks, rub out our cramps or wake up hours before us runners to prepare food for us. Your belief in our ability to complete the Ultimate Human Race enabled us to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going when every instinct is telling us that it is not possible and we cannot do it. Thank you for being there for us and supporting us. We are incredibly grateful.
Have a look at the full gallery here.
After five hard months of training, 20 ARD runners took their places in the starting chutes to brave the incredible journey from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, a daunting 88km’s. The route was exceptionally difficult, with one major climb after another. Our runners would climb a total of over 2000m in this race. To put that in perspective, in five months I managed to climb 5 000m in 1200km’s of training runs.
The ARD warriors who completed five months of training were:
Yusie Kariem (First Comrades Attempt)
Abduragiem Pathan (First Comrades Attempt)
Rafiek Roberts (First Comrades Attempt)
Shaheem De Vries (First Comrades Attempt)
Hoosain Achmat (First Comrades Attempt)
Ebrahim Jassiem (First Comrades Attempt)
Johnhamish Manuel (First Comrades Attempt)
Yazid Ebrahim (First Comrades Attempt)
Shaheed Adams (Second Comrades Attempt)
Zahid Ebrahim (Second Comrades Attempt)
Abdul-Muiz Lewin (Third Comrades Attempt)
Ebrahim Khan (Third Comrades Attempt)
Shanaaz Kariem (One Comrades Medal)
Rita Lategan (Two Comrades Medals)
Suzie Germs (Two Comrades Medals)
Binyamien Kariem (Two Comrades Medals)
Shane Jacobs (Two Comrades Medals)
Mervin Lakay (Four Comrades Medals)
Achmat Salie (Four Comrades Medals)
Satish Ramsavak (Twenty-three Comrades Medals)
After 12 gruelling hours of running, ARD saw ten of their brave warriors cross the finish line. Among those were Bienyamien Kariem and Shaheem de Vries, who ran the entire route together in a time of 10:55:22 followed by Shane Jacobs coming in at 11:30:50. Following in Bienyamien and Shaheem’s example, Rafiek Roberts and Suzie Germs started and finished the race side by side in a time of 11:44:22. Mervin Lakay and Hoosain Achmat were right on their heels with times of 11:45:57 and 11:46:23 respectively. Satish Ramsavak completed his 23rd Comrades run in a time of 11:49:26 followed by Rita Lategan conquering her first up run and achieving her 3rd Comrades medal in a time of 11:53:26. Ebrahim Khan had a comfortable finish with a time of 11:57:20 earning him his first Comrades medal.
The success of our runners would not have been possible without all the love, support and encouragement from our fellow ARD members back home and especially those along the route. You didn’t hesitate to change our sweaty and stinky socks, rub out our cramps or wake up hours before us runners to prepare food for us. Your belief in our ability to complete the Ultimate Human Race enabled us to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going when every instinct is telling us that it is not possible and we cannot do it. Thank you for being there for us and supporting us. We are incredibly grateful.
Have a look at the full gallery here.