In 1930, at the age of 21, Wally Hayward entered the Comrades Marathon, having never run more than 37 miles (once).

Being a novice, Wally shot to the front and had a 29 minute lead by the halfway mark. These days this would be considered suicidal.

But, despite having to walk up all the hills in the second half, and having his lead reduced by a minute every kilometre in the closing stages, he hung on courageously and managed to win by 37 seconds (in 7:27:26) one of the closest finishes in the history of the Comrades Marathon.

A further remarkable factor that probably contributed to his suffering in the closing stages, was that Wally would only replenish his liquid intake every 30 Km, which is totally unheard of nowadays.

He had been told that sprinkling a little baracic powder in his socks would help to compensate a little for perspiration. So, with the wisdom of youth he thought that if a little would help a little, then a lot would help a lot. However, the excess powder formed into little lumps with the perspiration, causing plenty of blisters on his toes and on the soles of his feet from the sandpaper-like effect, so that his feet were bleeding by the time he finished.

Unlike our light, supportive, cushioned running shoes these days, he won wearing 1/6d (15p) canvas tackies - with heavy, thick, solid rubber soles!