“Try nothing new – not your nutrition or shoes and, most importantly, don’t cut your toenails the night before the race.”

That’s the simple but crucial advice from three-time Comrades Marathon champion Frith van der Merwe to novices preparing for this year’s ‘ultimate human race’.

Drawing from her experience of conquering one of the world’s toughest ultramarathons in 1988, 1989 and 1991, Van der Merwe believes sticking to what your body already knows could make a difference between finishing strong and struggling on race day.

“On the day, try to relax as much as possible. In fact, the days leading up to the big day, sleep as much as you can. Don’t try anything new,” she said.

“And then I always have this funny little one. Don’t cut your toenails the night before. You never know, you might have a little jagged edge. And over 90km, anything that’s strange on your foot is going to become pretty sore. I remember losing all my toenails on the route. Don’t wear new shoes.”

Or perhaps if you are planning an assault on this year’s up-run, you can try Van der Merwe’s unconventional pre-race diet before winning the 1989 women’s race in a new down-run course record of 05:54:43, finishing 15th overall.

On the eve of the race, she had two glasses of rosè to help her relax and get a good night’s sleep. Race morning was equally simple but hearty – two toasted cheese sandwiches with tea, finished off with a slab of chocolate before tackling the world’s oldest ultramarathon.

“The day just worked out so well for me. I’ve tried that diet again, and it didn’t work as well. I remember partying post-race. I still managed to dance. I remember eating lots of pudding and really just enjoying myself. I was on a high, and I knew then that my life was going to change. I was no longer little Fritz van der Merwe from Benoni.”

Besides her 1989 record-breaking run, that year’s race is also remembered for Graham Fraser, pictured running backwards after he had vowed to Van der Merwe two weeks earlier that if a woman beat him at Comrades, he would turn around and give up running.

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“I saw Graham ahead of me, and I remembered those words he had stated to me a few weeks earlier. I passed him, and that’s exactly what he did and Runner’s World took a picture of him turning around and running back home.

“I felt it was a bit silly because you don’t do that. You run for yourself. You do what you can do best and no matter who’s in front of you, you focus on your goals – not on who’s ahead of you. You can never run for very long if that’s your attitude.”

Referring to the current crop of female distance runners in the country, the St Francis College English teacher heaped praise on Gerda Steyn, who broke her 34-year-old down-run record in 2023.

“Gerda is amazing. She is a very talented runner. Interestingly, she started quite late. I think that’s why she’ll last longer than I did, because I did everything when I was young. It was during apartheid, so your biggest race in SA was the Comrades.

“I was already running Comrades in my early 20s. I’m feeling the side effects now. I think with Gerda’s training programme and her support group, she can go on until she’s about 40. She’s still got a good few years left.

“Yvette van Zyl is also a very talented runner. She broke my Two Oceans record. It’s lovely to see we’ve got some black women running really well. It’s opened up for them. We’ve had some world-class girls. You’ve just got to keep on encouraging them. They’ve got to have that support,” said Van der Merwe.

Also Read: Steyn tipped to break Frith’s Comrades record