Four-times Comrades champion Alan Robb is primed to establish a mark of unprecedented ultra-distance racing quality when he competes in his 30th consecutive Comrades Marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on Monday.
Robb, who turns 50 in October, will race for his 15th silver medal to add to his Comrades Marathon treasury of 12 golds, one sub-nine-hour ”Bill Rowan” and two bronze.
”Late last year I was playing with the idea of going for a time under 6hrs 30min to celebrate my 30th Comrades Marathon,” said Robb after his wind down training run on Sunday with long-time training partner Peter Hurry.
”But by my final long run on Sunday I felt I had a few niggles and a muscle imbalance. So I thought I’d be happy to clock about seven hours.”
Then Robb received an unexpected windfall on Monday at the arrival from London of muscle-balance guru Ron Holder. ”Ron’s a top kinesiologist who has been my guardian angel against injuries since I first went to him in 1978,” said Rob. ”He’s come out to attend his grandmother’s funeral, but he’s going to fit me in for a muscle-balance session. That will improve my chances of a going for a 6hrs 30min Comrades after all.”
Robb’s record among the top 10 in Comrades Marathon is second only to that of the legendary Bruce Fordyce who has 11 golds, five silvers, two ”Bill Rowans” and two bronze. Fordyce eclipses Robb by virtue of his nine victories between 1981 and 1990.
Robb has four wins and has finished second, third, fifth (twice), sixth, seventh, eight and ninth. ”I would love to have finished fourth and 10th then I would have had a full house,” he grinned.
Robb stunned the road running fraternity when he finished third behind Derek Preiss and Gordon Baker in his debut Comrades in 1974 after having started running only nine months previously.
His shuffling style was better suited for the down run and he claimed his first win in 1976 in 5hrs 40min 43sec. He followed up in 1977 then became the first sub 5hrs 30min runner in Comrades history with his down victory in 5:29:14 in 1978.
Robb’s fourth victory was in 1980 before he gave Fordyce his hardest race when conceding to the little maestro from Wits on the 1982 downward journey.
Robb’s ”tightest” training partner is former Witsie Peter Hurry with whom he has shared 36 000km of runs since 1978. Hurry, who is also going for his 30th Comrades Marathon, was forced to miss the 1991 Comrades Marathon as he was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer of the lymph gland.
”Peter was an amazing source of inspiration for me,” said Robb. ”I watched him make a comeback from cancer to run a 7hrs 35min up Comrades in 1992. – Sapa