Going for Comrades number 43

Running the Comrades is not something everyone can do, let alone doing it every year for more than four decades.

Barry Holland will be running his 43rd consecutive Comrades Marathon this year at the age of 63.

“I’m obviously not running the times that I did a few years ago, but I will continue running for as long as I enjoy doing it,” said Holland.

Holland lives in Ballito with his wife Debbie, and between the two of them they have completed nearly 60 Comrades Marathons. He was recently appointed chairman of the Dolphin Coast Striders running club.

“I love being involved in the club and there are such amazing people on the committee.”

He is a born-and-bred Durban boy and believes that running the Comrades in his own backyard was part of his DNA.

On May 31, 1973 at the age of 20, Holland ran his first Comrades in 7 hours and 52 minutes.

After completing Comrades number 33 Holland made a decision to end his Comrades journey, but he found he missed running so much that he just could not give it up and ten years on, continues annually to take up the challenge of the greatest ultra marathon on Earth.

The only other person who currently holds 42 consecutive Comrades medals with Holland is Louis Massyn.

“Personally I think records are just silly and you can’t take them too seriously. Records are there to be broken and someone else will come along and break the records you achieved.”

Holland says in order to be able to do the Comrades, you need to have three things.

“First of all you need the ability, the God-given talent to run. Then you need to believe in yourself that you are able to achieve your goal and then you need the training.”

When Holland was struggling to break seven hours on the Comrades clock, he realised he had to change one thing. “I have the talent to run and I believed that I would be able to complete the race in under six and a half hours, so it was obvious that I had to change my training to reach my goal.”

He said often runners do too much long distance running before the Comrades, leaving them tired when the big day comes.

Holland got his best time of 06.29 in 1991 after he made the necessary changes to his training program to run less in the last few weeks before Comrades.

“Comrades is such a personal race. It’s all about how much pain you can take and how strong your mind is on the day,” he said.

So why go on for his 43rd consecutive medal at the Comrades Marathon?

“I love running. It’s the camaraderie of the people you run with. It’s running in the mornings watching the sun rise over the ocean. It’s the discipline of the training, getting up and going for a run even though the bed is that much warmer and then feeling fantastic afterwards. And of course it helps with how you feel when you look in the mirror!”

It is obvious that Holland has a love for running that is infectious and inspiring and this love will carry him over the finish line of the Comrades Marathon this year for the 43rd time.