Julian Drew
IF Bruce Fordyce was South Africa’s Comrades star of the 1980s – and indeed of all time – with his incredible tally of nine victories, South Africa’s star of the 1990s is undeniably Shaun Meiklejohn. He may have only one victory in what is a far more competitive era than the days when Fordyce cast a gigantic shadow over his opposition, but Meiklejohn’s consistency since 1990 is still remarkable.
He has never finished out of the top five – although he did miss the 1994 race to concentrate on the 100km world championships where he finished fourth – and on Monday he will again be running his favoured down run.
It is perhaps Meiklejohn’s economical running style – he covers the ground with a shuffle reminiscent of the great Alan Robb – that gives him an advantage on the down run. The heavy pounding inflicted by running downhill with a more orthodox style takes a heavy toll towards the end of the down run, but there are other factors.
“I prefer the first hour-and-a-half of the down run to that of the up run because it’s all local territory to me,” says Meiklejohn who lives just outside Pietermaritzburg in Hilton. “I don’t get to run the first 30km of the up run very often but with the down run a lot of my training is on this section of the course. I’m a lot happier going out of `Maritzburg and I tend to pace myself well in the opening stages so that when the real downhill section comes I’m still able to run strongly.”
He will make sure he stays close to the leaders on Monday after being “caught unawares with the pace” last year and intends running a similar race to 1995 when he scored a thrilling victory over Charl Mattheus in the last five kilometres.
His preparations too have been similar to those which served him so well in 1995. “If something works for you then why change it? Many things this year compare very favourably with ’95. Things like my heart rate, body weight and times for particular sessions are almost identical so I’m hoping that this bodes well for me this year,” he says.
Although there has been talk of an assault on Fordyce’s 1986 down record of 5:24:07, that seems unlikely as the record was set on an 88,6km course and this year the race will be over 89,9km which automatically adds around five minutes to the race. Meiklejohn won on a 90,7 km course and will be looking to improve on his halfway split of 2:47 in 1995.
Times are not his main focus during the race, however. Meiklejohn writes messages on his wrists for motivation. In 1995 he had the words control and relax painted on either wrist. “I’ve got away from using times because that keeps you too focused on how fast you are running and where you must be at a particular point. I prefer landmarks and rough estimates and I use my messages to stay focused on the day.”
What will he write on his wrists on Monday? “I haven’t decided yet. I’ll decide nearer the time what’s going to be my big motivator.” He could do worse than choose repeat and 1995!