MEYERTON. – “For a dedicated Comrades runner, the worst possible news – especially when you have trained for more than 8 months – is to hear that Comrades has been cancelled as well.”

So says Roland du Plessis, a runner from Meyerton Athletics Club, who on Sunday 14 June, completed a grueling 90km on his treadmill using Zwift, a massively multiplayer online running and cycling physical training program that enables users from across the globe to interact, train and compete in a virtual world.

Roland was competing in the Comrades #RaceTheLegends, a virtual race organised by the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) following the cancellation of this year’s event as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Having completed a virtual Two Oceans on my treadmill and in my yard earlier in April (during the hard lockdown), it was a no brainer that I would eventually attempt to run the Comrades in a similar way, even well before the Comrades announced the #RaceTheLegends virtual challenge,” Roland explained.

Hosting the virtual run on Zwift, Roland finished the grueling treadmill marathon ‘alongside’ 10 runners from South Africa and across the globe, including the USA, UK and Germany. After finishing the challenge in a respectable time of 10:57:00, Roland was challenged by a fellow Zwift user to add another 10km and make it a full 100km on his treadmill, which he finished in a total time of 12:30.  Armed with lessons he had learned from his ‘virtual’ Two Oceans Marathon earlier this year, Roland set out to recreate the real Comrades Marathon as accurately as he could on the treadmill.

Says Roland: “Precision is key and as I did with my Virtual Two Oceans run, I again dissected the actual Comrades course elevation using real GPS and elevation data from a previous Comrades.

“I mimicked the route profile by adjusting the treadmill incline setting every kilometre, in line with the actual route profile to match the total elevation gain of the Down Run as one would expect on sections. Since it is not possible to generate an incline of less than 0% on my home treadmill, further adjustments included lifting the back end the treadmill to also get a maximum decline of -3%, as one would on sections of the Comrades Down Run. The main feature of the Comrades Down Run is the effect that prolonged downhill running has on one’s quads and upper legs after the initial 60km of climbs, so a schedule was developed to also include 1 squat for every 2% elevation loss per km which was totalled and done every 10km and resulting in a total squat count of 91,” he says.