If there was ever a time I have been overawed, it was last Tuesday night.

Entering Simbithi clubhouse, the first person I greeted was Tim Blankley, the first of many legends there. Tim ran his first Comrades Marathon in 1961 – the year I turned 10 – and went on to amass 34 medals which included five golds and a host of silvers.

Next was Colin Goosen – who always greets me as “Hey Malachite!” as we are both Marist Brothers old boys – with no fewer than 43 medals, including a gold for a 6:02 run in 1983.

Shaun Meikeljohn – 33 medals, 10 golds; Louis Massyn – 49 medals; Ann Ashworth – 2 golds; and so many more from across the years were all there.

The occasion that brought about 200 people together was to celebrate the legend that is Barry Holland of our Dolphin Coast Striders road running club. The man has stood at the starting line of the Comrades Marathon no fewer than 50 times and only once, this year, has he failed to finish.

When I offer my commiserations on his DNF (did not finish) he brushes it off. “Comrades isn’t everything,” he says bravely. “The sun will rise again tomorrow.” Mmm, methinks that was a big porky. It had to hurt. Moving on…

Barry’s inspiration started in 1967. He was at the finish at Greyville racecourse and saw the most dramatic finish in the history of the race, the moment that Tommy Malone stumbled right at the finish line, to be beaten by Manie Kuhn by one second!

That scene was the inspiration to put on running shoes and line up for the 1973 down run – and so a legend was born. Every single year from then he has joined that band of brothers, some flying, some struggling, down the 90-ish kays between ‘Maritzburg and Durban. From when there were a little over 1 000 entries, to the 22 000 this year.

Road runners come from all walks of life. They are academics and labourers, young and old, black and white, men and women, fast and slow, from those only interested in keeping a little bit fit to those who will go to the ends of the earth to run yet another challenge. From the normal to the certifiable.

Which is fine, because it allows for people like me. I was also at that 1967 finish at Greyville, but the bug didn’t bite then. I reported on the 1971 race for the Natal Witness newspaper, driving the course alongside those exhausted maniacs, but the bug didn’t bite then either.

It was only when we moved to Ballito that I joined the then new Dolphins club, mainly for social recreation. Then the bug bit and my own Comrades journey was underway. Only then did I learn of the huge rewards of the sport.

When you’ve trained a few hundred or thousand kays with someone, you get to know them extremely well. A combination of early mornings, the joys of good health followed by exhaustion, put runners through all sorts of emotional highs and lows.

That’s when they reveal sides of their characters that are not always on show. And that is when lasting friendships form.

Many, many people from the running community, locally and his former Jeppe running club, were at Simbithi to pay tribute to Barry’s achievement. It was meant to be his 50th celebration but well, that didn’t quite work out. But he has a big heart and was quick to pay tribute to the scores of friends a lifetime in the sport has made for him.

“Comrades is hard. Many ask why I do it. It’s not about the medals, it’s about the people. Vic Clapham started Comrades in 1921 to relive the camaraderie forged under hardship between soldiers in WW1. That camaraderie lives on today, every time Comrades runners are together.”

You might be forgiven for thinking that after 50 runs he might want to hang up his takkies. Not so. He admits there were floods of tears from himself and his supporters when injury forced him to the kerb on Sunday, but he is already looking forward to next year. He paid particular tribute to Louis Massyn, also a guest, who completed his 49th run this year.

“I didn’t make it on Sunday, but next year I want to run with Louis and we will make it together.”

Which brings to mind a line from the Roman poet Persius, which my old Latin teacher used to quote: “Vincit qui patitur” – He who endures, conquers.

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