The Two Oceans Marathon…From an Observers Standpoint…

A couple of weeks ago on our Saturday Spot I showed you one of Cape Town’s great Institutions: The Argus Cycle Tour. Well another great Cape Town Institution is the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon. A 56 km race that wanders down the Cape Peninsula every Easter Saturday and then across the Peninsula in Fish Hoek and back up the other side of the Cape Peninsula. It’s a beautiful run with the Ocean beside you for a large part of the day…

Sometimes the weather is awful… but we can be quite stubborn about watching the whole event in all circumstances.

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Spectatorship is a serious sport for some of us regardless of the weather.

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But yesterday was perfect: A cool sunny crispy Autumn day…

And in years gone by we used to drag ourselves round the event the day before entering all the countless Fun Runs: Ranging from a 56m nappy dash, 2km, 5km, 8km… Something for everyone and in our family we had everyone. And of course coming home with medals and t-shirts and water bottles and gift bags and mountains of stuff!

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Until we were discussing the impending races one year only to discover that it wasn’t the highlight of my kids year! They were going along to please us… And trust me it wasn’t the highlight of our year to try and keep track of countless children in countless races amongst countless people.

So we reverted to the sport of spectatorship and we are all happier for it!

So this year we had a team of spectators and a glorious day. And for us energetic observers it begins just after the crack of dawn with coffee and a rapidly diminishing pile of Hot Cross Buns.

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An array of deck chairs and sleepy heads…

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And then the first runner comes through… and the accompanying bunch.

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Then the first ladies come through and we settle down to be entertained …

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And bazillions and bazillions of runners going by.

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Not all of them are runners, mind you… there are also some neighborhood dogs and caterpillars.

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Some of us are more entertaining than entertained…

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And some of us kept the shoes stomping on with the tootling of their vuvusela. At this stage I could have joined the runners myself. Oh, the opportunity to escape!!!

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As the last runners pass through so deck chairs are abandoned.

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Some die-hards remained till the very last runner had staggered past. You are there encourage and support after all… and who wants to budge from a sunny spot anyway!

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Finally, everyone adjourned to the lounge to watch the finish on tv…

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Well actually, some of us were a bit tired of runners and peek-a-boo seemed like a better option!

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That’s it, until next year.

6 Replies to “The Two Oceans Marathon…From an Observers Standpoint…”

  1. Hay Aunty Muffin! Those were the days!!! And yet that little one felt like all the others put together!!! Have a good week!

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