Striders gather to send off Comrades Marathon hopefuls
The Midrand Striders gave their Comrades Marathon runners a memorable send-off on Sunday, blending a morning run with breakfast and a panel discussion full of honest, inspiring stories.
The Midrand Striders gathered at The Lakeside Cafe in Helderfontein Estate on June 7 to give their Comrades Marathon runners a rousing send-off ahead of the gruelling 90km race.
Members laced up at 7am for a warm-up run before settling in for a buffet breakfast and a panel discussion that had the room laughing, reflecting and cheering in equal measure.
Facilitating the morning was Wellington Mpofu, a 14-time Comrades finisher whom the club describes as a runner whose journey proves that persistence and patience can lead to breakthrough performances.
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Mpofu set the tone early, reading from a book about a runner who arrived at Comrades expecting a silver medal despite never having run the race before. The man finished in 8 hours and 11 minutes, and the room took the lesson quietly to heart.
The panel brought together five experienced club members, each carrying a story that reminded first-timers and veterans alike why they keep coming back.
Michelle Acton, a 15-time finisher with a personal best of 3 hours 50 minutes, told how she stumbled into running simply because she needed people to train with on the streets of Midrand. A chance conversation at a club time trial with fellow panellist Duane Newman was all it took.
Within three weeks, she was signed up for her first Comrades, and she has not looked back since. Her husband, she laughed, has given her permission to go all the way to 32 finishes.
Bramwell Ortell, a seven-time finisher and recipient of the 2025 Spirit of Comrades award, said his turning point came during a Two Oceans weekend when he watched the 56km runners come in. One finisher, clearly not built like a typical athlete, crossed the line and it changed something in Ortell forever.
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If that man could finish an ultra, he thought, so could he. He built his way up carefully over the years, doing Two Oceans first before eventually taking on Comrades, and he has never stopped since.
Derrian Nadauld, a nine-time Comrades finisher and 10-time Ironman, traced everything back to his father, who completed his 10th Comrades while Nadauld was still a teenager.
He ran his first race in 1993, took an 18-year break that included triathlon and stints working in the United Kingdom, and then came back to complete six more consecutive Comrades. His daughter, he mentioned proudly, is now working her way towards her own first finish.
Dora Msaiseghe, known warmly in the club as the ‘slowest Kenyan you will ever meet’, started her running career in Uganda before relocating to South Africa. She has four Comrades finishes to her name and is chasing a goal that very few runners ever achieve, completing all six of the original World Marathon Majors.
Newman, an 18-time Comrades finisher who has explored the world’s greatest races alongside his wife Sharon, brought the room to laughter with a story from the Boston Marathon.
Their Uber driver dropped them in the middle of nowhere on race morning, insisting the journey was complete. It took a passing police car to rescue the situation and get them to the start. The couple made it, but only just.
One of the most moving moments of the morning came from a club member who ran last year’s Comrades with his son. The father had returned from an operation and only began training in March, so he planned to run to halfway and then let his son continue alone.
When the son began to fade on the hills, a fellow runner pulled the father aside and said something that has stayed with him ever since. “If you don’t wait for that guy, he will not finish.” The father waited. They crossed the line together in 9 hours 27 minutes, and the room applauded warmly.
Another member admitted quite honestly that his running journey began not out of any love for the sport but because his wife insisted they needed their Discovery Vitality points. He finished his first Comrades in 11 hours 24 minutes and has since set his heart on going sub-11.
With the race just days away, the mood at The Lakeside Cafe was a familiar mix of nerves, excitement and deep belonging. As one panellist put it, it was never really about the speed.
It was always about the resilience and the people you find along the way.
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