Monties Then & Now

This Year, I Had the Opportunity to Follow in My Dad’ S Foot Steps: I Took on the Old Mutual Wild Series Mont Aux Sources Challenge ( ‘montie S’, for the Cool Kids), Some 18 Years After He Tackled It. In That Time, a Lot Has Changed – but the Important Bits Are the Same as They Always Were.

- Bryony Mccormick

I’d been moving ( slowly ) in an upwards direction for the last 18km, and I knew it was nowhere near being over. Despite that, I was delighted to still be feeling good. So far it’d been a dreary year of running for me, spattered with injuries, DNSs, and a general lack of enthusiasm.

The build-up to the Old Mutual Wild Series Mont Aux Sources Challenge, a 50km mountain run in the Northern Drakensberg of KwaZulu-Natal, had been no different. Weeks plagued by dented self-esteem, constantly questioning my fitness and ability, put a dampener on my training, and an irritated hip put a pirate limp in my stride.

In fact, the only thing that kept me going was the sentimental fact that my Dad completed this event 18 years ago – and so, when the opportunity arose to do it myself, I simply couldn’t say no.

I actually remember when my Dad did it, way back when. It was 1998, I was in high school, and if I recall correctly, us kids were farmed offto our granny for the weekend. It was the year of Titanic; everyone was in love with Leo DiCaprio, and Justin Timberlake was still in NSYNC.

It was also before the internet and cell phones, so the first update we got was postrace, on the Sunday evening – when my Dad was bundled out of the car, in a sitting position. I remember thinking he’d looked better at the end of Comrades. His immediate feedback wasn’t exactly positive: he mumbled something about severe leg cramps, sore knees, a hard run and lack of sleep, before heading to bed with what, now, I can only compare to man-flu symptoms.

My Mom poured herself a large glass of wine, and settled in front of the TV, quiet and reflective. And that was that, mostly. My Dad never really mentioned it again, except after a few beers around the braai when the war stories would come out, and his tales of conquering the Amphitheatre were revered by his awestruck mates.