Staying on the Comrades track

Kevin Duddy, 66, a resident from Wilro Park and member of the Khosa Running Club ran his first Comrades Marathon 31-years ago as his main motivator to stay fit – and since then he never missed one run.

Today he proudly boasts with a triple green number comprising of 30 medals – including two silver – and a certainty that he will be bringing another medal home.

But Kevin explains that it was never his intention to run this many Comrades Marathons, in actual fact his interest lies with surfing.

“I grew up in Kimberley, after school I moved to Durban where I joined the army and started training with a person I grew up with who was actually training for the Comrades.”

Kevin was 19-years-old at the time and promised himself that he will be running the Comrades one day.

Thereafter he moved to Cape Town where he remained an avid adventurer with a love for the waves and mountain climbing.

“It was only when I moved to Johannesburg with my family when I got lazy and with no beach in sight I had to start thinking of ways to keep fit again,” Kevin said.

“My goal was therefore to run the Comrades.”

He started training and completed his first Comrades Marathon in 1984 without any complaints, except being tired, and this even motivated him to finish the Johannesburg Marathon of 42km that same year.

The following year was the year he was like many others, lying on the floor, filled with pain and convincing himself that he will never again run a Marathon, but ten days later he was already training for the City to City; a 50km run from Pretoria to Johannesburg.

“That is when I told myself that one can feel it, think it, but one should not voice it. One should just allow yourself enough time to recover.”

Once he had a pinched nerve which halted his training endeavors weeks before the big race, but that did not dampen his spirit.

“I could not use my right arm and hold it against my upper body for the entire race. I must say it really was a relaxed and easy run.”

He is now part of the Khosa Sports Running Club and says being part of a club makes staying fit so much more rewarding.

“I now run for the social aspect of it. I enjoy the company and through that we get the chance to motivate each other which is tons of fun!”

For this years’ Comrades he started training in January and if counted altogether this training of six days a week comprises of 1 440km on 26 May, the final training day.

“Sometimes it is really difficult to stay motivated but with all the support that I am getting, it makes staying on the right track so much easier.”

Kevin says he does not really have any end goal as to how many Comrades he wants to finish.

“As long as I can do it and don’t have any complications I will continue. I am just thankful to not have had any serious injuries preventing me from taking part at all.”