Iain Don Wauchope is a South African athlete that needs little introduction. A trail running legend who wears his heart on his sleeve and remains dedicated to a committed family life. In a running career that spans more then half of his life, he's notched up some impressive victories, none more noticeable then the 2012 Otter African Trail Run. As we gear up for the final few months ahead of the 2013 Lesotho Ultra Trail, we catch up with Iain to chat family, skyrunning and what lies ahead for the remainder of the year in the build up to the event.
Lesotho Ultra Trail [LUT]: Firstly Iain, congratulations on your recent win at the iconic Rhodes Trail Run, one of South Africa’s original mountain races. You’ve obviously been doing some serious prep in the build up to the event but as we move into the second half of the year, what will be your focus between now and the Lesotho Ultra Trail, both from a training and racing perspective?
Iain Don Wauchope [IDW]: To be honest, my training has been very limited and I was fortunate that the conditions were very good on the day at Rhodes. My main focus at the moment is the Otter Trail run. I’ve started my training late and now, in the last 10 days, I’ve only run twice so I’m very concernend about my preparations. Only 6 weeks left and I’m not nearly as fit as I should be at this stage. Fortunately, the Lesotho Ultra Trail will be my next main event after Otter so I’m hoping that I will be in top shape come end of November. Since we are really busy with work and family commitments, [my wife] Su and I are not doing any smaller races. Instead, we’re just focusing on a few important events and trying to remain as competitive as possible.
LUT: Many people say that you’ll have a slight advantage in the build up to the Lesotho Ultra Trail as you currently live and train at altitude at your home Mountain Splendour in the Drakensberg. How do you structure your training so as to maximise your location, or does having a young family mean that you cant get up to the high peaks near Monks Cowl that often?
IDW: Mountain Splendour is located at 1200m above sea level, so it’s not really high altitude; more like mid altitude training. Underberg, Nottingham Road, Potchefstroom, Gauteng, Free State and other parts of SA are higher than us so I don’t think we really have an advantage. We try to get onto the higher Drakensberg slopes once a week for our long runs, up to about 2000m, but it is not consistent enough. To really maximise our terrain and duplicate conditions in Lesotho, we’d need to walk to 2000m and then do our work-outs, especially steep hill climbs, at that altitude. However, that’s not practically possible for us since we are not professional athletes (i.e. we work for a living!).
LUT: Let’s talk a little bit about skyrunning. With it’s origins firmly rooted in the Italian Alps, not to mention the crowning of some of the world’s most highly profiled Skyrunner® World Champions, including Kilian Jornet and Marco De Gasperi, what are your views on having the sport begin to establish itself within the trail and mountain running community here in southern Africa, both for event organisers and aspirant runners alike?
IDW: It is always good for the sport to have new, high-calibre events taking place. It’s great for us athletes to have more opportunities, especially if it entails travelling to new places. For example, Su and I have never been to this part of Lesotho. In addition, if these events attract international athletes to our races (as with LUT) then it creates an even better racing environment. Moreover, we may even get opportunities to race abroad at other skyrunning events. It’s certainly a good thing.
LUT: More specifically now, let’s chat about the Lesotho Ultra Trail itself. Having seen the route profile and spoken to us on many occasions about what the race route has in store for the runners, what are you expecting from the Maluti Mountains of the Tsehlanyana National Park, and more importantly the actual race?
IDW: Phew, it’s going to be very, very tough! To climb those elevations at that altitude is actually groundbreaking stuff for us South Africans. The Europeans and Americans have way more experience at these types of events with their multitude of trails and races at similar atlitudes. It may take a few years before we adjust our training and can perform with these guys over this type of terrain. It will be interesting to see how we compare.
LUT: Having attracted such a strong international and local contingent of runners to compete in the Lesotho Ultra Trail, do you view race day as a “measuring stick” not only for yourself, but also the other local South African talent who’ll be there?
IDW: For sure. It’s great to be able to compare yourself to other international runners. AJ [Calitz] has already proved himself with a great victory earlier this year in Europe but I’m not sure what terrain/altitude they were running over. I love competition and am really looking forward to racing whoever shows up.
LUT: Lastly Iain, we know very well that you’re a devoted family man. What lessons have you learnt about life, specifically through running, that you hope to pass onto your young son and daughter as they grow older?
IDW: Wow, that is a loaded question! It depends what is important to you. For me, I think we often get way too caught up in our achievements, or achievements of others, and we lose focus of what is important in life. Some people even start idolising other sports people. This is not healthy and it is not biblical. Anyway, what race are we trying to win? What happens after racing when you are too old, injured or burnt out? What happens then? And when we die, what happens then? Where are you going? Will your results on the sportsfield actually matter? Someone once said to me something to this effect: “What use is it if you are left living alone in a 1-bedroomed flat with Olympic gold medals, trophies and certificates covering the walls? Or would you rather be married with kids and a stable income with no medals or trophies?” Obviously, it would be nice to have it all. But even then, is that why we are here and is that all that we are working towards? No matter what happens out there in a running race, rugby match, swimming pool, office or wherever, there is a far greater goal to work towards. I’d like my children to be able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7.