WeeklySA_AdminDOWN RUN: In 2022, the Nedbank Running Club forever changed the dynamics of racing the Ultimate Human Race
By Ali Mphaki
The 96th Comrades Marathon takes place on Sunday starting at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall at 05h30 and ending 12 hours later at the Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban. The distance will be 87,7km. 354 international runners from 84 countries are entered into this year’s Comrades Marathon with the lion’s share of athletes coming from India with 403 athletes, Zimbabwe with 255, United Kingdom with 224, USA with 173 and Brazil with 142 runners.
This will be the 48th Comrades Down Run. and the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) has confirmed the following top male and female contenders in this year’s race.
MEN:
In 2022, the Nedbank Running Club forever changed the dynamics of racing the Comrades Marathon. Onalenna Khonkhobe, the young runner from Klerksdorp, bolted like a rabbit being chased by a lion from the start of the race; and would not stop until he ran out of steam 67km into the race.
Khonkobe was not only on record pace (5:18:19 – David Gatebe, 2016), he was also on pace for an astounding sub-5-hour finish. While the experts knew that this relentless onslaught was not sustainable, it made for entertaining watching of the race and also showed just what a class act Khonkobe is. (More on him later).
Behind him a pack of 5 men (Tete Dijana, Edward Mothibi, Dan Matshailwe, Johannes Makgetla and Joseph Manyedi), all from Nedbank, ran as a team.
All five, as well as Khonkobe, were from the same training group in the North West. They had planned the race to the finest detail. Khonkobe would go out as the proverbial hare and set a blistering pace to keep the non-Nedbank runners guessing, while the pack of 5 would remain together.
It worked, as all five finished in the top 7 of the race with only three time winner, Bongmusa Mthembu (4th) and Nkosikhona Mhlakwana (6th) splitting the top 7. The Nedbank team had come close to an unprecedented top five clean sweep and changed the face of the race forever.
All five are back for the 2023 Comrades Marathon, again a Down Run due the ongoing roadworks in and around Pietermaritzburg; and all five have prepared in much the same way as in 2022. The only difference is that the opposition is now forewarned. As they say in the classics – forewarned is forearmed. With all that said, let’s look at the top contenders.
Tete Dijana (Nedbank)– 1st, 2022
Tete Dijana has to be considered as favourite to defend his title. World Athletics only have four official races behind his the 324-year-old’s name, starting with a 5000m (14:48.23) in 2011, no records until 2021 where he is listed as running a 65:46, another 5000m in 2022 (15:01:60) and his 50km time of 2:39:04, run in 2023. Tilastopaja only reflect results from 2022 and 2023, crediting him with a 29:57 for 10km and 1:08:10 in the half marathon and his 50km time.
Edward (Slender) Mothibi (Nedbank)– 2nd, 2022/ 1st, 2019 Edward Mothibi has an impressive Comrades Marathon record. Fourth on debut in 2018, Mothibi claimed victory in only his second outing at The Ultimate Human Race when he defeated the defending champion and three-time winner, Bongmusa Mthembu in a titanic battle in 2019; and then 2nd in the 2022 edition of the race.
Bongmusa Mthembu (Arthur Ford) – 4th, 2022 Dubbed the greatest ultramarathoner in the world in 2018 by virtue of his 5th in Two Oceans, 3rd at the World 100km Championships and his win in the 2018 Comrades Marathon, Bongmusa Mthembu – Bongs to his friends – brings with him an ultrarunning record that cannot be ignored. After a ‘slow’ start to his ultra career when finished 54th in the 2006 edition of the Comrades Marathon, and taking a couple of years to learn how to run the race (31st – 2007, 52nd -2008), Mthembu has featured in the top ten at Comrades on nine of his last 11 runs; and on the podium seven times, with three wins.
Dan Matshailwe (Nedbank) – 3rd, 2022
Another one from the stable of Dave Adams in North West is 29-year-old Dan Matshailwe who finished 3rd in the 2022 Comrades Marathon.
Matshailwe was a novice in the 2022 race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, but that did not deter him. It was only in the final stages of the race that he had to give way to his more illustrious teammates, Tete Dijana and Edward Mothibi. But Matshailwe comes with pedigree.
WOMEN:
Gerda Steyn (Phantane Athletics Club)
Everyone’s favourite, Gerda Steyn is back for the 2023 Comrades Marathon and has to be the favourite for not only a win but also a shot at the long-standing record of Frith van der Merwe of 5:54:43 set in 1988.
Steyn has already smashed the Up Run best time when she finished 17th overall and clocking 5:58:53 – some 11 minutes faster than the previous best time set by Elena Nurgalieva (6:09:24).
Steyn missed the 2022 race as she was focusing on the New York Marathon which was only 3 months after Comrades (August last year). But she has made no bones about the fact she will be back this year and has only one objective, to make a massive statement.
Alexandra Morozova (Russia) 1st, 2022
Last year’s winner was the fastest in the field in 2022 over the marathon and ran a well-judged race to win the title, crossing the line in Moses Mabhida Stadium in 6:17:48. She let the inexperienced Adele Broodryk go in the early stages of the race as Broodryk was in fact on record pace. In the second half of the race, Morozova passed both Broodryk and Dominika Stelmach to win The Ultimate Human Race in four attempts. Her previous three attempts saw her finish second on debut in 2017, third in 2018 and second again in 2019.
Dominika Stelmach (Poland) 2nd, 2022
This will be Stelmach’s third attempt at The Ultimate Human Race after a 5th in 2019 and second in 2022. The Polish athlete is another tough runner who fights to the last. She too loves to test herself. What makes her second in 2022 so remarkable is that Comrades was her 7th major race for the year.
