Don Hale Blog

*Swansea Harrier and Welsh  Master Ifan Lloyd ran the Comrades Marathon. Welsh Master endurance athlete  Ifan Lloyd tackled the famous Comrades Marathon in South Africa, and success for WMAL duo at the Masters Match half-marathon at Swansea. Introduction by Don Hale. Story forwarded courtesy of David Gibson. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk Swansea Harrier and Welsh Master Athletics veteran Ifan Lloyd tells of his recent gruelling and dramatic experiences of running the famous Comrades Marathon on 8th June 2025. This year was the down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, some 56.32 miles distance, with an overall drop of over 800metres, on a hot and stifling day. Just about managed to finish in one piece to earn a back-to-back medal for completing the race on two consecutive years.  To be honest I had no right to start the race given the hamstring tendinopathy, and even less of a right to finish.  I had done no decent training ses...

*Pictured above - Welsh Master and Swansea Harrier Ifan Lloyd. Great performance by Welsh Master Ifan Lloyd in the South African Comrades Ultra-Marathon... Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk   Welsh Master and Swansea Harrier Ifan Lloyd bravely completed the gruelling Comrades Ultra-Marathon in South Africa last month, which is said to be one of the world’s largest and oldest ultra-marathon events. This year, and described as an ‘up-run,’ this prestigious annual race was held in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa and started in waves from 5.30am by the City Hall in Durban, and eventually finished 88kms (55 miles), away in  Pietermaritzburg. The organisers claimed it is ‘ The Ultimate Human Challenge ,’ and said it’s the ‘ Unofficial World Championships of ultra-running. ’ Ifan was one of about 22,522 entrants with some 17,304 finishers and amazingly, he completed his own epic performance in a superb time of just 8 hours...