MARK ETHERIDGE: Marathon giant Mark Plaatjes has advice for Olympics contestants

SA’s five marathoners at the Paris Olympics will set off at 8am on Saturday (men) and Sunday (women). They may not know it, but a whopping 7,873km away — which translates into about 187 marathons — it will be midnight in Boulder, Colorado.

And there in front of a TV will sit a man, small in stature but huge in SA athletics history. His name is Mark Plaatjes and 39 years ago he won the national marathon championships in Port Elizabeth, setting a national record of 2hr 08 min 58 sec.

At the time SA was still a skunk of international sport and under strict sanctions as people of colour felt the sting of apartheid.

Three years after his SA record, Plaatjes decided to relocate to the US. He became eligible to compete for his new country, swapping green and gold for stars and stripes, and probably the pinnacle of his career was winning the marathon at the 1993 World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

He remains the only SA-born athlete to win the marathon at a World Championships. Josia Thugwane would win the Olympic title in Atlanta in 1996.

Plaatjes, now 63, with three daughters, four grandchildren and two great-grandkids, never got the chance to run an Olympic marathon, failing to make the cut for Sydney 2000, but has kept a keen eye on running back in his nation of birth.

“I never tire of talking about the time I was racing in SA,” he says from Boulder, where he runs his hugely successful In Motion rehab physiotherapy centre and running store.

“It was just the most amazing period of my life. We had such a great group of athletes competing almost every weekend. One of my big regrets is that the world didn’t see them. Men such as Matthews Temane, Bethuel Seribe, Zithulele Sinqe and Johan Fourie. The world would have loved to see them compete.”

One of 10 siblings (only five are still alive), who had a humble upbringing in Coronationville, Johannesburg, the Plaatjes pride are all involved in the store and physiotherapy centre.

“My wife, Shirley, is one of the two other physios in the practice; my oldest daughter, Gené, looks after the practice; and my other two daughters, Luz and Camille, work in the running store.

“I’m just so grateful that I got the chance to compete internationally and love watching guys such as Elroy Gelant and Adriaan Wildschutt competing against the world’s best. I absolutely loved seeing Adriaan mixing it up in that amazing 10,000m in these Olympics.”

A lot of things have changed since his heyday but not always for the pure good of the sport, says Plaatjes.

“The current period since the introduction of super shoes and super spikes ... I believe there should be an asterisk next to all those new records because there’s certainly a huge advantage wearing that footwear.

“If you’re running a marathon at [a] sub-5-minute mile pace the time gained is at least one to three minutes, depending on the person or shoes. I love records and fast running, but there should definitely be an asterisk behind those records in the new shoes.”

Plaatjes’ last competitive race was 24 years ago, but he still gets out. “I run 30-40 miles [48-64km] a week. I’m perfectly healthy, nothing hurts and I don’t do hard workouts nor race. If I can get out on the beautiful trails here for an hour at a time that’s fine, as I still want to be running at 70 or 80,” he says.

Comparing the US and SA running scene, he says the latter should count its blessings.

“SA is blessed to have a club structure that is a phenomenal support system. There’s also a very social aspect to running, so people have a braai after time trials and hang out with a beer or two after a time trial. In the US it’s a very individual thing ... you run your race and go home.”

Before getting back to his busy business, Plaatjes passed some of his vast knowledge on to Gelant and Stephen Mokoka in the men’s marathon and Irvette van Zyl, Gerda Steyn and debutant Cian Oldknow in the women’s one.

“That course is hilly and conditions will probably be hot and humid, so they’ll have to take cognisance of hydration and having enough electrolytes.

“As for race approach, too many people psych themselves out just because it’s the Olympics. My advice would be to approach it as a normal race and don’t change anything just because it’s the Olympics — remember what your pre-race goal was and try to stick to it.”