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Speaker 1: This morning, I was heading towards the first read through

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Speaker 1: of a new play which starts rehearsal in ten days

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Speaker 1: time and which starts performance at the arena at the

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Speaker 1: Artscape on the fourteenth of May, goes for three weeks.

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Speaker 1: I hope you'll come and see it. It's the Killing

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Speaker 1: of Union Leader my Louis l Jun and I'm in

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Speaker 1: it with three lovely other actors. We'll talk more about

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Speaker 1: it closer to the time. So I was driving past

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Speaker 1: Uct a lot earlier than I usually do, and I

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Speaker 1: saw people completing I don't know how many distances of

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Speaker 1: trail run there were, but I saw some people still

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Speaker 1: in very very good shape running into Uct and into

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Speaker 1: the finishing strait. So that was cool to see. And

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Speaker 1: then tomorrow it is the ultramarathon, and on Sunday it

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Speaker 1: is the half marathon. In reasonably decent weather, it must

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Speaker 1: be said Mike Finch. Runners World editor in Chief joins

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Speaker 1: us now Hello, Mike, Hello day. Bruce Fordyce is not

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Speaker 1: at the race this year, and he wrote about it

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Speaker 1: Ailey Maverick. He ran it for the first time in

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Speaker 1: ninety eighty three, I think finished fourth and three fourteen,

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Speaker 1: never ran two oceans that fast again, but still enjoyed

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Speaker 1: the race just as much each year thereafter, and he's

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Speaker 1: either been here as a runner or as a commentator.

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Speaker 1: The first time, he'll be watching it from his sofa

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Speaker 1: in Johannesburg, and he says, I never won it because

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Speaker 1: I never really thought I should win it, because my

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Speaker 1: main focus was the Comrades. And yes, Derek Price achieved

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Speaker 1: the double double, winning both the Comrades and the Ultra

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Speaker 1: in seventy four and seventy five, but both races are

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Speaker 1: faster now. The crid winning times make the same achievement

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Speaker 1: almost impossible. And yes, of course, the incomprable Gerda Stein

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Speaker 1: continues to confound us all by dominating both races every year.

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Speaker 1: But she is so gifted she shouldn't count for this analysis,

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Speaker 1: and nobody would bet against her making it seven in

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Speaker 1: a row tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: Mike, I guess, well, that's a great intro. Is love

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Speaker 2: Bruce Fordais's thoughts of a needything to do with ultimate

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Speaker 2: distance training? And I think he always hits it on

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Speaker 2: the nail on the head to some extent. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: scatter staying, I mean, she's won this race six times.

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Speaker 2: She first won it in twenty eighteen. She's won every

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Speaker 2: single event since twenty eighteen, except for the twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: and twenty twenty one events, which obviously canceled due to COVID,

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Speaker 2: and she continues to be obviously that the favorite for

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Speaker 2: this year, but I think she might have a little

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Speaker 2: bit of competition, one would hope, and certainly she is

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Speaker 2: indicating that there's a couple of people closer to her

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Speaker 2: than we would she would actually like. And I know

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Speaker 2: that Yevette Franzelle, who was a big challenge of her

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Speaker 2: last year, was sick on the day of the race,

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Speaker 2: so she didn't really do particularly well. But she's been

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Speaker 2: three time runner up in this event. I think she's

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Speaker 2: got a good chance. And then last year we had

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Speaker 2: to run up seal with Ruki of Kenya. She's back

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Speaker 2: to see if she convetted that runner up position from

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Speaker 2: last year. And then we've got the suitors Nehing Katala

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Speaker 2: who was third in twenty twenty five. So I think

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Speaker 2: it's a slightly stronger field this year than last year,

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Speaker 2: but it would be a brave person who is going

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Speaker 2: to put money against they're winning her seventh.

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Speaker 1: And just to finish up with her Bruce towards the

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Speaker 1: end of his article says, more than the statistics of

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Speaker 1: her performance, it is the manner of her victory. So

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Speaker 1: that stands out. Trader always finishes full of smiles and

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Speaker 1: waves and laughter. She appears to win convincingly and have

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Speaker 1: fun at the same time. She really is, it seems

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Speaker 1: to me. I mean, I've interviewed her a couple of

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Speaker 1: times briefly, I've never been in the same physical spaces

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Speaker 1: of her, but she just seems like a really, really

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Speaker 1: lovely human being as well as being an extraordinarily gifted

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Speaker 1: ultra athlete.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, she absolutely is. And I've spoken to

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Speaker 2: an interviewed her on many occasions and she is absolutely

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Speaker 2: just as you say, a lovely human being. And what

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Speaker 2: confounds me to some extent is that she's pretty done

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Speaker 2: much done everything. She's got the Comrade's record, she's got

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Speaker 2: the Church's record, she's held the South African a marathon record.

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Speaker 2: And I always ask her what keeps her coming back

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Speaker 2: to these things, and she says the same thing every year.

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Speaker 2: She says, I absolutely love it. I love the competition.

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Speaker 2: I get excited and even if it's you know, whether

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Speaker 2: it's two oceans or the commerce Manthon. She says the

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Speaker 2: same thing every year. She's excited to be excited to

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Speaker 2: be part of it as much as he was when

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Speaker 2: she first lined up. And I think that enthusiasm, motivation

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Speaker 2: is what keeps her coming back and keeps her training

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Speaker 2: and performing.

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Speaker 1: And the podium and the men's race perhaps more difficult

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Speaker 1: to predict.

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Speaker 2: Mike Well, I was having a look at the last

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Speaker 2: time anybody, anybody won this race back to back, and

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Speaker 2: that was in two thousand and five, two thousand and four,

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Speaker 2: two thousand and five when the grads Zimbabie and Marco

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Speaker 2: Mumba one it. So it's been twenty one years since

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Speaker 2: we've actually seen back to back winners in the men's race,

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Speaker 2: and that is completely different from what we see in

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Speaker 2: the women's race obviously, and it's one of those events

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Speaker 2: where you probably have, you know, ten athletes that could

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Speaker 2: win this race. Last year we saw Joseph Seturli the

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Speaker 2: Sutu run, running extraordinarily well. But you know, he's obviously

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Speaker 2: back to defend his title, but the bets are that

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Speaker 2: the chances of him repeating are against the odds. And

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Speaker 2: you've got people like on an elect Concorbe, who was

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Speaker 2: the win in twenty twenty four, and a lot is

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Speaker 2: running up to beneath su Suka Khana and they're all

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Speaker 2: in there, but you know almost guaranteed that there's going

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Speaker 2: to be somebody that we've never heard of who's kind

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Speaker 2: of potentially in the top ten but will just come

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Speaker 2: up with the goods on the day. And I'm not

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Speaker 2: quite sure why that happens in the men's race, because

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Speaker 2: it's a classic battle between your ultra distance runners versus

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Speaker 2: your marathon runners. It's just certin than the marathon, but

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Speaker 2: it's not quite as long as comrade, so you get

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Speaker 2: this very interesting fight between the faster guys and the

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Speaker 2: guys have got the endurance, and I think that's what

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Speaker 2: often leads to this very difficult to predict men's race

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Speaker 2: because there are so many different athletes that could win it.

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Speaker 1: And then Mike the organization. What I've heard from people

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Speaker 1: who've entered one of the races is that things so

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Speaker 1: far have been a heck of a lot smoother than

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Speaker 1: they were last year. And last year was a particularly

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Speaker 1: troubled race, which led to the replacement of some of

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Speaker 1: the senior race officials and so on. And you're obviously

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Speaker 1: much more in touch with the runner community than I am.

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Speaker 1: It does seem to be a different beast this year.

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Speaker 2: Oh absolutely. I mean last year there was all sorts

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Speaker 2: of drama around the numbers that were allowed on the course,

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Speaker 2: and the city were looking threatening to remove their support

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Speaker 2: of the race, which essentially would have made it impossible

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Speaker 2: to run it. But a new organizing company took over

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Speaker 2: still all the sports and they are the commercial and

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Speaker 2: also the race organizing committee and working with the committee,

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Speaker 2: and by all reports from what everybody I've heard and

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Speaker 2: from the expo this morning, things are running exceptionally smoothly,

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Speaker 2: at a much higher level of professionalism. And I think

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Speaker 2: that everybody who has invested in the future and success

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Speaker 2: of this event has been delighted with the change, and

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Speaker 2: I think it's a welcome change for all the runners.

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Speaker 1: Mike Finch, thank you very much. Indeed, coincidentally watching How

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Speaker 1: To Staying on television at the moment with a massive

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Speaker 1: smile on her face as she's talking to journalists about

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Speaker 1: the race that she is planning to run. Mike Finch

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Speaker 1: is the editor in chief of Runners World,