July 23, 2008
By Riel Hauman
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
History
was made at South Africa's oldest 100-mile race, the CuPedis Washie
ultramarathon between the coastal towns of Port Alfred and East London,
last Saturday when Vanessa Wayland became the first woman to win
outright in the 32 years of the race's existence. Wayland ran 16:19:52
to beat three-time champion John Magagane.
Another first, but a
much less positive one, happened when the ugly spectre of South
Africa's inordinately high level of violent crime raised its head
midway through the race and last year's female winner, Susan Hurter,
was attacked by an assailant and dragged into the bushes beside the
road. Hurter was severely traumatised, but eventually finished the
race in eleventh place (third woman).
Wayland, who runs for
Golden Reef Road Runners, beat Magagane by just over 45 minutes. "This
was girl-power at its best," Wayland, 41, said after her win. She took
the lead after about 120 km and ran especially strongly over the last
30 km. "There were a few nasty surprises along the way, but the
weather was brilliant," Wayland added. "I will definitely return to
defend my title next year."
Her time is the fastest by a woman
since Rae Bisschoff finished third overall in 14:53:06 in 1998. She
has won the Golden Reef 100-miler three times.
Hurter was
attacked at 2 a.m. and dragged into thick bushes alongside the lonely
road by her hair. The man demanded that she switch off her light –-all
the runners carry one at night to protect them from on-coming traffic-–
but she refused and fought back, screaming loudly.
About 300m
away, Alec Wainwright, who was acting as a second for his son Stuart,
heard her screams and drove to her as fast as he could. The attacker
saw him coming, released Hurter and disappeared into the darkness.
The
traumatised Hurter decided after about 50 minutes to continue. Stuart
Wainwright insisted on running alongside her for the rest of the race.
She finished in 21:52:11, almost three hours slower than last year.
Among the runners who could not finish the gruelling course was Eric Wright, who has completed 20 runs and won the race in 1997.
NOTE: Look for results in Monday's Race Results Weekly --Ed.