Toni Seery’s first love is trail running but her recent novice Comrades Marathon result has her touted as a future gold medallist.

Her dad, Jeff van Quickelberg of Umdloti has a few Comrades medals on the wall with his best result being an 8:04.

Toni was merely hoping to beat her dad’s best time but instead ended up smashing a 7:45, just missing a silver medal by 15 minutes.

She still managed to secure one of only 261 Bill Rowan medals awarded to women at this year’s Comrades.

This after earning a bronze medal in the elite category in her maiden 42km road race, the Durban City Marathon earlier this year. Her time of 3:09 gave her a B seeding for Comrades.

What sets the Simbithi resident’s achievement apart is that she has only been running for two and a half years.

“A friend invited me to do a park run at Holla Trails just after Covid and I just fell in love with running,” said Toni.

Comrades record holder, Gerda Steyn, finished her first 42km race, the Dubai Marathon in 3:11 and the next year she entered her first Comrades Marathon, finishing in 8:19.

The Dolphin Coast Striders runner and Holla Trails ambassador first caught the Courier’s eye while doing doing pre-Comrades speed work in Umdloti.

Running on her toes, she came across as a track runner but it turned out Toni is the polar opposite; an ultra distance trail runner turned Comrades Marathon novice.

Sports writer Wesley Botton said it was highly unusual for ultra distance runners to run on their toes.

“Running on your toes makes you naturally faster but it is more energy intensive. Most coaches would suggest shorter distances to runners with that style,” Botton said.

However, he said there were examples of elite runners with bizarre styles that should not work but that somehow works for them.

He referenced how Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie, considered one of the greatest long- and middle-distance runners in history, had once run a marathon on his toes.

Toni said she was very comfortable running on her toes and would not be changing her style at this stage.

While coaching the Ashton Grades two and four cross country athletes, Toni’s next big event is the Otter African Trail Run in October.

This ultra demanding race covers 40km of trail with four river crossings, 7 000 ascending steps and over 2 400m of elevation between its Nature’s Valley start and Storms River Mouth finish.

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