Athletes pass the test with flying colours
More than 14 000 runners started the 89th Comrades Marathon route from Pietermaritzburg to Durban in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday.
The seven clubs in and around Nelspruit; Barberton Gijimas, Legogote of White River, Nedbank Running Club Mpumalanga (LVCC), Nelspruit Marathon Club (NMC), Ngodwana, Komatipoort and Sabie Shufflers had 141 athletes completing the “ultimate human race”.
Gerhard Nortje of Legogote was the oldest in the group at 66 and finished in a time of 10:08:14 and Kenneth Maheso (24), also of White River, the youngest. He finished in 08:38:42.
Sipho Chauke (33) of NMC did the best of the seven clubs’athletes, finishing in 06:54:31 and Mathew Makamu, also of NMC (36), did the second best in 06:55:13.
It is the world’s oldest and largest ultramarathon covering a distance of about 90km. About 48 athletes entered the first race in 1921, but when the starting shot was fired, only 34 had the heart to tackle the daunting task – not surprising when one considers that the course was tarred only for the last few kilometres into Durban.
Bongmusa Mthembu won his maiden Comrades Marathon.
He is also the winner of three previous gold medals in this marathon, one of the world’s most famous.
British-born Canadian runner Eleanor Greenwood put up a strong performance to win the women’s race.
