MY COMRADES STORY BY MICHAEL WEBB
“My Comrades journey started in 1999. I had initially started running just to get fit for the impending birth of my son in March 1998. Little did I know that this would lead to a long time love affair with running and in particular with the world’s greatest ultramarathon.
My first Comrades was a Down Run and as we all know, this is the “painful “one but I finished in 9:01. I vowed and declared never to run Comrades again as so many do… until two days later.
The 2000 Up Run was the first Bill Rowan year and I squeaked in with a hard fought 8:58 thanks mainly to one of our ‘older’ runners telling me to stop being a wuss and complaining – this was at the 20km to go mark.
This kind of support, camaraderie and fight is what it is all about!
That year’s race was when it really hit home as to how special Comrades is and I have not looked back since. I even managed to do a personal best every year for the first six years and pulled in three silvers along the way.
After completing my 13th in a row, I decided to buy some Pink Drive goodies including a set of Pink Wings and run with it. This led to many chirps of go Pink Fairy, Butterfly, Pink Lady, etc.
Thoroughly enjoying myself, I decided to take it a step further and the next year I donned the wings again, added a bit of pink into my gear and ran for our local SPCA to raise funds as animals are our passion at home.
Raising R30,000 that year was a mind-blowing experience and I decided to develop the Pink Fairy and have continued raising funds for our furry friends ever since.
This Pink Fairy initiative has grown over the years and we now raise funds annually for our SPCA and various animal welfare initiatives in the Border region. To date over a million rand has been raised over the last 12 years, but the highlight for me continues to be visiting schools and of course the world’s greatest race.
With my amazing wife at my side all the way, the Comrades Marathon is still and will continue to be my main event of the year. We absolutely love Comrades!
The Pink Fairy will continue to do this incredible event as long as possible – 30 in a row is the goal – 7 more to go. We will see you on Sunday, 9 June.”
The winner of this month’s Mr Price Sport voucher is Michael Webb.
