This episode we do a little something different: instead of focusing on one runner, I focus on a team. This is the story of the creation of South Africa’s first elite and subelite all-women’s long-distance running team, Team Massmart. The team was formed by Ann Ashworth, who was the subject of our previous episode, in October 2017, before she was a Comrades champion.

Ann Ashworth had a vision to make a difference and saw a lack of support for aspiring elite South African women long-distance runners. She made it her mission to create a team that brought more South African women into the elite ranks of marathon and ultra-racing, with a focus on Comrades. 

The episode follows Ann’s journey to found the team and also discusses how the team structure follows a communal, “all for one, one for all” approach instead of the “winner take all” approach followed by other teams. You’ll hear about how the team has progressed in its first two years, as well as commentary from team members Enie Manzini and Renata Vosloo. 

This episode is part of our first season, and the theme of this season is experiences in and around the Comrades Marathon, a 90-kilometer, or roughly 56-mile, road race that takes place each year in South Africa. It is the oldest and largest ultra-distance foot race in the world: Comrades turns 100 years old in 2021 and over 27,000 were registered for the 2020 event. 

Recommended Resources

Every episode we highlight one entry from our long list of recommended resources, which are resources focused (mostly) on running and are created by women, are about women, or both. And for this episode, the highlighted resource is Run the North, a weekly newsletter about Canadian running created by Erin Balser. 

Erin provides up-to-date information about what’s going on in the sport in her country, as well as news that affects Canadian racers, notable news from elsewhere, historical information, and more. The newsletter is well researched, insightful, thoughtful, and offers a good mix of information I find informative, interesting, and oftentimes just straight up fun. 

One recent story I really enjoyed was Erin’s look back at 1980 Canadian Boston Marathon winner Jacqueline Gareau, on April 20th, the day this year’s Boston had been scheduled for. And in her May 4th newsletter, Erin offered up 72 books about running to check out. 

You can subscribe to Run the North through the website, runthenorth.substack.com.

Also mentioned in this episode is the Marathon Talk podcast and their interview with Comrades Marathon Chairperson Cheryl Winn, which you’ll find in Episode 543. 

You can follow Team Massmart on Instagram at teammassmart; Twitter at @TeamMassmart; and on Facebook. You can also visit the Team Massmart website. 

Ways to Connect and Engage with Women's Running Stories

Instagram: @womensrunningstories

Twitter: @WomenRunStories

Website: womensrunningstories.com

Email host Cherie: [email protected]

Women's Running Stories is a member of the Evergreen network: https://evergreenpodcasts.com/

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