At 43 years Charné Bosman (Murray & Roberts) could be considered being a myth buster proving that age is irrelevant.
As far as the former Comrades winner is concerned, age is purely just numbers. It can never define who she is or what she is capable of. Her coach, Lindsey Parry (TuksAthletics), agrees.
“I don’t ever think because am 43 that I should start to tone down on my goals as an athlete. The hunger to excel and be the best is still as strong as the day I lined up to race for the first time,” explains Bosman.
Parry is of the opinion that she is still capable of going on to win races for a couple of more years.
“At 43 Charné is now faster than she was in 2016 when she won the Comrades. Recently she ran a 1:19 half-marathon which is her fastest time in five years. That to me is exciting. With the right training, there is no reason why she can't go on to win gold at the Comrades for another seven years.”
Bosman and Parry decided to team up again this year with the aim of getting her to give a good account of herself during Comrades.
“After going ‘solo’ for a year I realised that I do need a coach to advise me. When training on your own one tends to overdo things as you always believe more is better. The biggest mistake I made last year was after winning the Loskop ultra-race is to go on to do my most intense week of training. I clocked 220km. After that my performance just kept on deteriorating.”
“Lindsey has already got me thinking before doing this year as he knows what works for me and what not.”
According to the Tuks coach every time Bosman races it will be with a specific purpose in mind.
“Sometimes she will race so I can monitor her race speed. At other times she might just do a tempo run. Most marathons and ultra-races will just be for training.”
When asked about what the goal is going to be for Two Oceans Parry said that the plan is for Bosman to have a hard training day on the road. But should she be in a position to win with ten or fewer kilometres left she will definitely race to win.
“Any athlete who gives up an opportunity to win a major race is playing a dangerous game. Officially, however, Comrades is our only focus.”
Parry predicts that if Bosman can get close to running between 6:15 or 6:20 at Comrades that she should have a realistic chance to win.
“If she does not find herself on the podium after doing so it will have been an unbelievable day of racing.”
Bosman does not want to overthink what could or could not happen.
“My only focus is to ensure that when out training I make the most of every minute. If I do so, I might just reap the rewards when it matters.”
She won’t be defending her Bestmed Tuks Marathon-title on 16 February as she will be competing in the Cape Peninsula Marathon.
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