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South Africa’s incomparable ultra-marathon runner Bruce Fordyce will miss the Two Oceans Marathon for the first time in four decades. <\/em><\/p>\n By chance, this weekend, while enjoying a beautiful Johannesburg autumn afternoon, I decided to listen to an album from my old vinyl record collection.<\/p>\n I chose All Things Must Pass by the “forgotten Beatle”, George Harrison. The record is an old favourite of mine, a reminder of a different, simpler, and very happy time.<\/p>\n The song rang true for me, as while listening to it, I was starting to accept that for the first time in over 40 years I would not be attending the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon this year. (At this point I must beg the reader’s forgiveness for my all-too-frequent use of the first-person singular “I” in this short piece, but what follows are my impressions and memories of the Two Oceans, and so you, the reader, will have to indulge me.)<\/p>\n Ever since I first ran this wonderful race in 1983, it has been an essential part of every April, and of every autumn, every year thereafter.<\/p>\n “If it’s autumn, it must be the Two Oceans” has been an oft-repeated mantra.<\/p>\n Since 1983, I have participated in the Two Oceans, whether as a runner in the ultramarathon, half marathon, or more recently, as a television commentator….<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n