Johannesburg — If Gerda Steyn is a shoe-in to set a new Comrades Marathon Down Run record in the 48th running of the Pietermaritzburg to Durban leg of the Ultimate Human Race, what are the chances of the men’s record falling too?
Steyn is the outright favourite to win next Sunday and given her recent incredible form which saw her break Frith Van Der Merwe’s 1989 Two Oceans Marathon last year and then better it back in April, she is also expected to run faster than the 5:54:43 which saw the Benoni school teacher finish in 15th place 34 years ago.
The men’s race is not so cut and dried though with competition sure to be much stiffer than in the women’s section. And as such talk of David Gatebe’s incredible 5:18:19 from 2016 has been hush-hush with none of the runners daring to declare they are ready to go for it.
But multiple champions producing coach John Hamlett, the man who was behind Gatebe’s fabulous run, believes the record can be broken.
“I think it can be broken this year, especially because the distance is a little shorter than back then,” Hamlet said of the race that will be a little shorter in distance than when Gatebe entered his name into Comrades Marathon folklore.
The runner from Kroonstad ran a distance of 89.209 seven years ago for his victory inside the Kingsmead Cricket Stadium, 1.507km longer than what this year’s race will be.
“Besides the shorter distance, you must realise that the current runners have a similar marathon times as the 2:14 that David had when he broke the record. So there’s a chance the record will be broken this year.”
Comrades champion Tete Dijana went past the marathon mark during the Nedban Runified 50m race earlier this year in 2:12:37 while 2019 Comrades winner Edward Mothibi boasts a 2:13:54 PB and Dan Matshailwe who finished third last year is a 2:14:06 marathoner.
Another champions producing coach Dave Adams whose athletes won the previous two editions of the Comrades agrees.
“I want that record. And I know that my runners will get it. We are going for it and we are ready. You can see the guys are in great shape. Look at how they are running, they want it,” Adams said during his Nedbank Running Club group’s training run out in the high-altitude town of Dullstroom in Mpumalanga as we drove in his car alongside the runners.
Dijana, Mothibi as well as 2022 gold medallists, Matshailwe (third place), Johannes Makgetla (fifth) and Joseph Manyedi (seventh) were running m like the wind during a fartleks session to Adams’ delight.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to beat us. We are going for the top five places and the record,” Adams said with the confidence of a man with a foolproof plan.
The athletes themselves were reluctant to commit, Mothibi saying ‘when you go to the race you don’t plan to run a record, it all depends on how the pace goes on the day’.
They did agree though that it is doable.
“The shorter distance means the record is possible. But that’s not what we are thinking about now. The coach is yet to give us a strategy and the pace for race day,” said Dijana, who is favourite to hold on to his title given his scintillating run at the Nedbank Runified 50km race earlier this year where he smashed the world record with his 2:39:03.
The fact that Onalenna Khnokhobe who pushed a very fast pace last year and broke many of the challengers off the bunch as he paved the way for a Nedbank domination of the podium will be racing this year has given hopes the record will be broken.
Though he runs for Nbedbank, Khnkhobe is not a part of the Adams group but is trained by Pio Mpolokeng, and given his run until he quit with about 25km to go his presence is expected to make for a fast race. He was second to Dijana in the 50km race, just 37 seconds behind – proof he has the speed.
But there are those who believe that the lure of the record is likely to be the downfall of many and that the discerning Comrades runner who will know how to pace himself well and run within their abilities will be the victor. And often those are the ones who break records without really going for them.
IOL Sport