SUCCESS AT COMRADES - by Andy Baldwin

We made it! All 18 members of the American team running the 56 mile Comrades Ultramarathon in South Africa made it to the finish line this past Sunday. In the process we secured sponsorships for over 800 orphaned and impoverished kids in South Africa and Kenya. It was truly a team effort and unlike any race experience I have ever had. I have been competing in running and triathlon endurance events in the USA for two decades and have never encountered a course of this magnitude. The course has NO flat running, it is all UP and DOWN over mountains. It was intensely challenging!

We Americans were a small portion of the largely 20,000 runners predominantly from South Africa, and we quickly learned that this race is not about time, it is about finishing. Bruce Fordyce, the South African legend who has won Comrades 9 times, told our group at lunch a few days before the race “you earn your first victory by just showing up and toeing the starting line, your second victory when you realize this is a race about camaraderie, supporting your fellow man, and your final victory when you cross that finish line in a stadium full of thousands.” Fordyce pulled me aside and whispered in my ear “Be prepared to feel pain like you’ve never felt before.” “Great, bring it on!” I said. But what I was really thinking was, “I have an injured hamstring, how the heck am I going to make this????!”

I had not run since injuring my leg after a high mileage run 4 weeks before. The back of my left leg hurt intensely, and I feared I had a stress fracture in my… femur. Reluctantly, I went to Walter Reed Medical Center to get a bone scan. I rejoiced when I found out the femur was clean and that the injury must be my hamstring. But I could still not run and with months and months of preparation and my team and all the sponsored kids in Africa counting on us, I felt incredible pressure and duty to make it to that finish line. In the weeks leading up to the race I did a lot of yoga, bicycling, swimming, and tried to maintain my fitness level. I tried to remain positive but must admit that being injured was challenging (especially with the toughest physical challenge of my life on the horizon). As many athletes know and new athletes will come to know, being injured is tough both physically and mentally. Luckily I had a strong crew of “Comrades” around me with Team World Vision and Nautica and we prayed for the best.

The day before the race our team packed up and headed to the starting line about 60 miles away from our ultimate destination of Durban. A special surprise happened that day – I had the chance to meet my five year old sponsored child- Mhendeni! I will never forget that moment, when he ran to me and hugged my leg tightly. Then I remembered the true meaning behind this journey. Our Comrades Mission is two-fold:

1. To complete the Greatest Human Race in the World.
2. To get 1,500 children in Africa sponsored.

My sponsored child Matt-Andy, as I affectionately call him, is an absolute joy. Until I came into his life he had been fatherless and unable to afford school and basic health care. For just $35 dollars a month he can now go to school and get medicine when he is sick.

The best way I can describe the Comrades Ultramarathon is as a combination of the Boston Marathon, the Tour de France, and our 4th of July all mixed together. This event is a national holiday in South Africa and I have never in my life experienced the support, huge crowds, and national pride as I did that day. As I ran up mountains that seemed to never end, the crowds would converge from all sides with their cowbells and cheers just like they do for the cyclists in the Tour. All South African televisions carry 12 hours of live coverage throughout the day. COMRADES is the sole focus of the day.

Our American band of 17 brothers and 1 sister (yay Hannah!) from Team World Vision kept putting one foot in front of the other attempting to cover the longest distance any of us had run before. I have done 8 Ironman triathlons, and many have asked me how this race compares to this feat. The difference is that over the 10 hours or so that it takes me to do an Ironman I shift muscle use between three sports of swimming, biking, and running. In an ultra-marathon like Comrades one must endure the pounding on their legs the WHOLE time. My hamstring began to give out around mile 40 and I was forced to walk. I took some pain medicine and tried to talk to myself reassuringly. With 16 miles to go, I knew that I had barely enough time to walk the rest of the way and would have to get running again. The mental battle was relentless with my body screaming and my mind trying to overturn it. As I rounded the turn before a big downhill that threatened to crush my quads, I saw a smile that I recognized. It was MATT-ANDY!!! He was on the course and cheering with the other sponsored children. I was instantly energized and ran over to him, picked him up and twirled him around. He gave me a fist pump and a thumbs up, and I swear he said “Go Daddy!” It was just the energy burst that I needed to get through those final miles. Crossing the finish line at Comrades is a moment I will never forget and that I dedicate to all of the families, friends, and sponsors that supported us in our mission to help the poor and give children the ultimate gift – a chance in life.

If you would like to help a child and our mission to get 1,500 children sponsored in Africa, please visit www.comrades4thekids.org

In the days following the Comrades race, the runners and I visited our sponsored children and their villages in South Africa. It was truly one of the most humbling experiences of my life and deeply rewarding to see the impact that World Vision is making in these communities. Matt-Andy clung to me yesterday as I had to say goodbye. He handed me a beaded bracelet that he had made for me. Deeply touched I told him with assurance “I’ll be back my son.” Deep inside we are all human. We all have something to give.