Down and up again: SA runner completes his double Comrades

In the early hours of Sunday morning, 14 June, while the sky was dark and the roads were empty, Donovan Shirley was counting lampposts as he made his way along the Comrades Marathon route from Pietermaritzburg to Durban City Hall.

Three lampposts, run. One lamppost, walk. Three lampposts, run. One lamppost, walk.

Through Botha’s Hill, down Fields Hill and towards Cowie’s Hill, Shirley repeated the pattern, putting one foot in front of the other. All the long runs and late nights over the past 18 months, covering 8,000km, had led to that weekend.

When he arrived at Durban City Hall just after 4am, more than 11 hours after setting off on Saturday afternoon, Shirley knew he was only halfway. An hour later, he lined up for the official Comrades Marathon start and ran the route all the way back to Pietermaritzburg to successfully complete a double Comrades.

Regarded as the ultimate test of endurance, the Comrades Marathon covers roughly 85km to 90km spanning the two cities. Every year it alternates between a “down run” and an “up run”.

As part of his Get Back Up campaign, an initiative aimed at raising funds and awareness for mental health, Shirley set out to run the route back to back in a single weekend.

“The idea was to start in Pietermaritzburg, run down to Durban and then, metaphorically, be down, exhausted and mentally drained, but still have the courage to get back up to Pietermaritzburg,” said Shirley.

“The premise was always the full Comrades was only halfway. With the right team around me, it was about finding that strength and the courage to be able to get back up.”

Shirley began his challenge at 5pm on Saturday, giving himself 12 hours to reach Durban before the official race start. After completing the “down run” overnight, he joined more than 20,000 runners for the official “up run” back to Pietermaritzburg.
This year’s race measured 85.777km, the shortest “up run” in recent Comrades history. Factoring in roadworks and slight route variations on his overnight journey, Shirley covered about 92km before reaching Durban. I n total, he ran 179km in 22 hours and 22 minutes.

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As Shirley retraced the route hill by hill, recalling where he had felt strong and where he had struggled, what stood out repeatedly was how his story was defined by the people who supported him and those he met along the way.

During his overnight run, he was rarely alone. At different points, friends and family joined him for sections of the route. He told the story of one friend who ran from Hillcrest to 45th Cutting in Durban with him because she had failed to finish the Comrades the previous year and wanted to complete the section she missed.

Because the first leg was unofficial, Shirley was also joined by a support crew. Accompanying him in two vehicles throughout the night, one would drive ahead to set up one of the eight refreshment stations Shirley had planned while the other stayed nearby, playing music and voice notes of encouragement from supporters.

Then, when he reached Durban City Hill with roughly 45 minutes to spare, Shirley searched for somewhere to freshen up. Somehow, he found himself in the elite ­athletes’ tent.

When he walked in looking and smelling as if he had already run a Comrades, the likes of Gerda Steyn, Aleksandr Sorokin and George Kusche all stared at him. “Do you mind if I sit next to you?” Shirley asked former Comrades champion Tete Dijana. Instead of being kicked out, Shirley was allowed to sit and actually received words of encouragement, with Steyn congratulating him on the challenge.

It was all these small moments that “put me at ease” and “filled my cup”, said Shirley.
Especially during the most trying moments. For Shirley, the final stages proved the toughest. When he stared up Polly Shortts, his quads were burning and his legs refused to move.

“My quads and I were about to get divorced on the road,” he joked. “But I kept telling myself to just keep moving forward, focus on the why.”

When he finally crossed the finish line, Shirley sank to his knees. “I’m just so grateful I was able to do it, that I was able to start conversations,” he said. “I’m grateful that I had a team around me and for the support of friends and family.”

The ultimate preparation

To complete a distance of this magnitude, the focus is not on being fast. It is about low and slow endurance, said Shirley.

“I needed to make sure that I could get down and get back up again,” he said. “So I never raced and that has different effects on the body.”

He mostly took from his experience in backyard ultra-marathons, where there is no fixed finish line. Instead, runners must complete a 6.706km loop every hour on the hour until only one runner remains.

During his preparation for the double Comrades, Shirley entered the Potchefstroom Backyard Ultra, with the idea of completing laps equivalent to 185km. However, he went far beyond that. He ended up completing 43 laps (288km) and breaking the South African soil record in the process.

“Having that confidence to know that I can go the distance – that was a game changer for me.” Now, after some well-earned rest, Shirley’s attention will turn to the South Africa Backyard Ultra Championships in August. DM