‘I had the greatest time' eMalahleni's blind runner shares his Comrades journey
'I had the greatest time' eMalahleni's blind runner shares his Comrades journey
The dust has settled, but the Comrades fever is still running high.
Just less than a week ago 22 670 runners lined up for a gruelling down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.
Among the athletes were eMalaheni's blind runner, Bidi Barrett, and his two guides – Jean-Michel Masson and Susan van der Spuy.
All went well until cramps got the better of him 30km into the race.
'At a stage, the cramps subsided, but came back,' Bidi said.
He said he tried his best, but at 73km he started dehydrating and his kidneys were sore.
'We got an anaesthetist along the way and she helped me. I was taken to hospital and spent two days under medical care.'
SEE THE VIDEO HERE: Bidi in action with his two guides, Jean-Michel and Susan.
When asked if he would attempt the Comrades again Bidi said, 'No, this was an amazing experience, but I must admit it was a bit too much.'
Jean-Michel and Susan pushed through and ran the whole race.
'We were a bit behind schedule and picked up our pace the last few kilometres,' Jean-Michel said.
SEE THE VIDEO HERE: Bidi starts to struggle.
They both finished in time.
'This was an amazing race. I learned so much from Bidi. As a blind runner, you do not have distractions from other runners, it is only you and that makes it extremely difficult. I have the utmost respect for Bidi and Susan. To guide a blind runner is not easy and Susan was so gentle, comforting, and motivating. We were a great team,' Jean-Michel said.
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