39 Comrades finishes

Tony recounting why he entered the race

…is the total number of combined finishes we had amongst our guests at Monday’s Confab session with Tony Phillips. For a group of roughly 20 people, an average of 2 isn’t bad (and never having done one, myself and Rikus definitely claim the average!). The theme of “Running Business Charity” was broadly discussed by Tony and the group, highlighting various links between the three activities. As a stalwart of Barloworld for 39 years, Tony has a wealth of business experience but chose to share what he learned during his Atacama Desert crossing in Chile, known as one of driest places on Earth.

At the age of 62, Tony was approached by his good friend Mark Bishop who offered him the opportunity to be his partner in the race. Having recently been diagnosed with a high PSA level, Tony waited to hear the lab results before committing to such a strenuous race. After finding out that everything was normal, Tony duly called Mark, told him the good news and entered the race. A few days later the doctor called to tell him that some samples had been left in the lab and upon analysis, that further treatment would be needed. Having now paid his entrance fee and committed to the race, Tony remarked that “as a good Scot I needed to get my monies worth” so decided to forge ahead in the endeavour. Never having run a half or full marathon (and to this day that fact remains unchanged), Tony and Mark trained for roughly three months then headed off to Chile.

Some ConFab guests enjoying that talk (9 Comrades finishes here!)

The race format of any desert crossing consists of 6 stages over 7 days. The total distance run is 250 km of which the runners largely have to support themselves. The 4 Deserts races are held in isolated locations and all hold title to one of several off-putting descriptors:

• The Atacama-driest desert on earth
• Sahara-hottest desert on earth
• Gobi-the windiest (non-polar) desert on earth
• Antarctica-the coldest desert on earth

Needless to say, the locations are extreme by nature. While Tony shared many stories about his race experience, probably the most inspiring was that of a Korean father and son pair who entered the race. They completed the full 250 kms over exceptionally rough terrain, not necessarily in the greatest time but definitely with the greatest determination. The reason for saying that? The father was blind. That accomplishment stood out for Tony and highlighted his most important point for any endeavour, be it in business, running or life in general: trust your partner implicitly.

I couldn’t agree more; while individuals are capable of great achievements on their own, when people band together they can move mountains.