The ECR Big Walk

On Sunday morning we headed down to Durban for the ECR Big Walk. The plan was to park at the finish and then catch a bus back to the start; It seemed like a good idea until we arrived and realised their planning was possibly not what it should’ve been. The parking lot had a single entrance, with each car having to stop, pay their R10, wait for change, etc. As a result we queued for ages to get into the parking. We then walked to the bus stop where the queue was mammoth, and there was not even a single bus in sight. After waiting a while we realised that we were never going to make it to the start in time. This saw us walking back to the car, and then battling traffic to get out the parking lot. As I said, there was only one gate, and everyone was trying to get in. How these people made the start, I don’t know.

Anyway, when we eventually made it out we headed to uShaka where the race kicked off. Thankfully it seemed most people had opted to park at the finish, and we found a spot easily.

The start of the race was also chaotic, with somewhere in the region of 18 000 people taking part in the 4 four events. We were walking the 10km which seemed like the most popular choice. The 9am start became a 9:15 start, which was rather annoying. I am however guessing that this had something to do with the millions of people stuck at the finish due to the lack of buses.

After the gun went off it took us another 10 minutes to cross the start line, but after we got going and made our way out of the masses (which took us 2kms), it really was a great event. The new beachfront is looking fantastic so a big thumbs up to all involved. Sadly it’s not looking like it’s going to be finished for 2010, but it’s close and is looking far better than it was.

Sharon and I gave the walk horns and managed to reach the finish in 1:31, 1 minute slower than I was hoping for. This did work out to 9min/km, so I was happy since it was a walk and not a run.

Then came the part I was dreading. Since we’d parked at the finish we’d now have to queue for buses to get back to the start. But low and behold, thanks to a speedy finish and most people parking at the end, we got onto the first bus without queuing and were on our way to the start within 5 minutes.

It felt great to have been back on the road. Even if it was only a 10km walk, it was better than nothing.