Finishing Comrades is the best thing that can happen to you
"There's no sport in the world where everyone receives cheers. It's always the winners but at the Comrades everyone is a winner."
The 1988 Comrades Marathon up-run will forever be known as the Frith van der Merwe race by the Benoni Northerns Athletic Club.
Van der Merwe achieved the club’s first-ever podium finish at the event.
It was also the legendary Rian Van Wyk’s most successful, yet painful, race after achieving a personal milestone of 06:59:16, earning himself a silver medal.
“In the last three hours of the Comrades, the pain is 10 times,” he said.
“I cramped everywhere – my cheeks, legs and thighs. I was 10km from the finish and I stood against a barrier. I had to break away from that to finish the race.”
That achievement speaks nothing of the staggering numbers Van Wyk has achieved in his running career.
The attorney has covered a distance of over 120 000km on the road since his first race in 1980 and won 21 Comrades medals.
“It’s fantastic. I couldn’t have achieved anything if it were not for road running. But it’s a time-consuming sport. It requires training every day if you want to achieve a silver medal. So I covered about 2 200km from January to May.
“We made sure we were fit enough for a 21.1km race in January, 32km in February, and 42.2km in March. In April, the Two Oceans Marathon and the 64km Rian’s Run and then in May, we taper down to be nice and fresh for the Comrades.”
Van Wyk’s first attempt at the 90km race was the 1980 down-run, running in the colours of Springs Striders before he and nine other Benonians decided to form the BNAC in 1981.
During those formative years when the road running culture was still non-existent in Benoni, Van Wyk and his teammates forged ahead with their plans and they reached their pinnacle in 1988 when a young Frith crossed the line first in the famous “egg, cheese and tomato sauce” colours of the BNAC at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall.
But a chance encounter with Frith during a race in the mid-80s convinced Van Wyk the three times Comrades winner was headed for stardom.
“I was running in the veterans and ladies race in Springs. A little girl ran with me in the 21.1km and she could hardly keep up with me. I helped her finish the race. That was Frith van der Merwe.
“I could have squashed her enthusiasm. She went on to become the best runner,” the 75-year-old said.
Frith’s win in 1988 was monumental for the BNAC but her record-breaking run the following year sent shockwaves around the country and increased the club’s status.
“That 05:54:43 time I believe is the best run in the history of the Comrades. If you take the 100km world record, which was achieved on flat terrain, and compare it to Frith’s time, running over those hills, I believe it’s the best ultra-run ever in the world.”
Although Frith’s record was achieved in the down-run, which is 10 minutes faster the up-run, Gerda Steyn’s 2019 up-run record (05:58:53) changed Van Wyk’s view and he believes Steyn might just smash the down-run record on June 11.
“Gerda ran 05:58 on the up-run and the down-run is 10mins faster. So take 10mins off her time and you have 05:49. Perhaps that’s the best run Comrades’ history,” he said.
The BNAC’s most successful year was in 1989 with Valerie Bleazard placing second behind Frith in the women’s race while Gary Turner achieved a gold in the men’s race in 1990.
“We are a club for the normal runner. We are very fortunate to have had those three gold medals that year. I think that same year we had 14 silver medals out of 65 comrades runners. We reached unprecedented heights.”
Van Wyk advises first-time Comrades participants to “be very cautious in the first 60km because afterwards you then start to battle with yourself. The last three hours are the hardest”.
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