Comrades king pays Khosa a visit
Bruce Fordyce, South Africa's Comrades Marathon and ultra marathon athlete spoke about his running career.
He is the king of the Comrades Marathon.
Bruce Fordyce, a South African marathon and ultra marathon athlete known to have completed 30 Comrades Marathons, recently had athletes of the Khosa Road Runners and anyone who wanted to listen in stitches with his Comrades stories.
With nine wins under his belt, eight of which consecutive winnings from 1981 to 1988, he has years of experience of what it takes to do your best.
He specifically spoke about the 90km down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, of which he was the record holder for 21 years from 1986 until Russia’s Leonid Shvetsov broke it in 2007.
Bruce says once a runner runs over the finish line it is one of the best moments of your life.
“You will cry and at the same time say that you will never run the Comrades ever again, but then you find yourself training and competing again the next year.”
Proof of his participation over the years was brought with him in a box and he made everyone laugh when he showed the difference in medal sizes.
“As a novice you will get these small medals, but if you win the Comrades the size is obviously larger,” he says jokingly.
He continued telling stories about his running career and the people he met, which ensured the night belongs to him and his tales.
Bruce’s achievements throughout the years
• He completed two Comrades Marathons at exactly the same times in 1985 and 1987 when he ran over the finishing line at a time of 05:37:01.
• He won the London to Brighton ultra marathon for three consecutive years from 1981 to 1983.
• He is the current world record holder for running over 50 miles (80,5km) a record set during the 1983 London to Brighton ultra marathon and also holds the 50 mile record for the United States All Comers Race.
• He is the former world record holder for running over 100km, set in 1989 – the year he skipped the Comrades.
