Author: Modern Athlete

The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) has released more information about the 90th Ultimate Human Race, held on Sunday, 31 May 2015.

Of the 16993 starters, 13006 finished the race.

Comrades Doctor, Jeremy Boulter has issued the medical statistics. He says 325 runners were treated at the Medical tent, and about 210 at the St Johns tent.

Netcare’s St Augustines Hospital in Durban treated 28 runners, 7 of whom were admitted to the ICU. The rest of the athletes were mainly treated for dehydration, apart from a few other minor problems; and were discharged.

Of the 7 ICU patients; 3 had pneumonia, 2 had heart problems, 1 had Myocarditis (inflamed heart muscle) and 1 had dehydration. They are all fine as of yesterday.

Netcare’s St Annes Hospital in Pietermaritzburg treated 51 runners. 11 runners were admitted, 6 are in ICU, 2 in High Care and 3 in the general ward. The rest were mainly dehydrated and have since been discharged.

Of those runners who were admitted to the ICU; 2 had a heart problem, 1 had early renal failure, 2 were dehydrated and 1 had low blood pressure. All runners are doing ok today.

Dr Boulter says, ‘We had a good day in the Medical Tent. The ICU section was busier than usual, treating 17 patients, of whom 3 presented as heat stroke, and fall into the categories listed for ICU as a final diagnosis. The medical tent itself was never overloaded, and we coped extremely well. We treated about 3% of the field in both tents, which is about as expected, considering that it was quite a hot day.’

Boulter adds, ‘We would like to thank our doctors, physios, paramedics and all other medical staff and volunteers who assisted our runners on race day. We are very grateful to you all.’

“Hard work, discipline and big sacrifices.”

This was what Charné Bosman (Nedbank) said to the Russians in reply to their question about what the secret of South Africa’s top female ultra-runners was that enabled them to win the Comrades back for South Africa.

On Sunday Caroline Wöstmann (Nedbank) won the Comrades in a time of 6:12:22. Bosman finished second in 6:33:24. Both athletes are also sponsored by Tuks/HPC. It was the first time since 1993 that two South African women finished first and second.

What made their performance even more significant is that since 1998, when Rae Bisschoff won the Comrades, no other South African athlete has been able to do so. In fact, the women’s race at the Comrades was totally dominated by the Russians who won on no less than 12 occasions. Athletes from Germany won four times and athletes from the USA twice. Last year Eleanor Greenwood (Britain) was the winner.

“I jokingly said to the Russians that Caroline and I are the new ‘twins’ of ultra-racing in South Africa and that there is no secret to our performance except doing the long hard hours on the road and listening to what the coach says.

“To finish second in the Comrades is really a dream come true. Ever since I took up ultra-racing my dream was to get a podium finish at the Comrades and now I have managed to do so. I think my achievement has not really sunk in,” the Tuks/HPC athlete said late on Sunday night.

Bosman obediently stuck to the game plan on which she and her coach Lindsey Parry(Tuks/HPC) agreed, kilometre after kilometre. And it paid off. With 15 kilometres to go she caught up with and passed the Russian twins, Elena and Olesya Nurgalieva, to move into second place. This was where her dream became a reality.

“The moment I passed them, it was as if I suddenly received a new surge of energy. I promised myself that, no matter what, I was not going to let them catch up with me again.

“Going up Polly Shorts I was still running somewhat conservatively, remembering the advice given by the nine-time Comrades champion, Bruce Fordyce, in his book titled ‘Running the Comrades. His advice was to glide up a hill and not to fight it. But once I got to the top there was no stopping me. I upped my pace and managed to open an 8 minute lead on the twins.

“The spectators along the road definitely made things easier with the way they cheered me on. I had no idea how ‘hungry’ the South African sports public was to see South African female athletes succeed in the Comrades. The prospect of Caroline winning with me in second place really excited them. To be able to fulfil their wish made me feel really proud to be a South African.”

Bosman is full of praise for the role Parry played in her second-place finish.

“There is no better coach than Lindsey. As an athlete I trust him utterly. He knows how to get us athletes to perform to the best of our abilities. What makes him such an excellent coach is that he does not believe in letting his athletes push themselves deep into the red during every training session. For him it is never a case of his athletes just running, hoping for the best. Lindsey carefully thinks about every kilometre he makes us run before he tells us to do so.

When asked about next year’s Comrades, which will be the down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, Bosman admits that she has no experience of this race.

At last year’s Comrades, she collapsed during the race because of a dysfunctional thyroid. She was unconscious for a few minutes and had to ‘finish’ her race in an ambulance.

“I should not have run last year because my thyroid count was quite off the charts. I was really sick. It was rather awkward when I ran past where I had to abandon last year’s race. But I feel up to the challenge to try for a good result in the ‘down’ Comrades also.”

But for now running is the last thing Bosman wants to think about. She and her husband, Carel, will fly to Europe tomorrow where they will attend three Diamond League Meetings (Rome, Birmingham and Oslo).

When she is back and training on the road again, she might consider doing the Nelson Mandela Marathon. However, the decision is not hers alone to make. Parry will have the final say in the matter.

2015 will be remembered as the year South African athletes took back ownership of the Comrades.
With their victories in the men’s as well as the women’s race from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, Gift Kelehe and Caroline Wöstmann were the two main protagonists in this ‘historic fight back'. Kelehe won in a time of 5 hours 38 minutes and 36 seconds and Wöstmann won in 6:12:22. Wöstmann’s winning time was about three minutes outside Elena Nurgalieva’s up-run record in 2006.

Actually this year's Comrades was a race of ‘firsts’.

It was the first time since 1992 that South African athletes managed to win the men’s as well as the women’s race.

It was the first time since 1998 that a South African woman won the Comrades.

It was the first time since 1993 that two South African women finished first and second.

As if this is not enough, there is still another first worth mentioning. When Gift Kelehe won he made history because he and his brother, Andrew, are the first brothers to win the Comrades. Andrew Kelehe won in 2001.

Another interesting statistic is that Wöstmann has become only the fourth athlete ever to win the Two Oceans and the Comrades in the same year. Derek Preiss (1974 and 1975), Frith van der Merwe (1989) and Elena Nurgalieva (Russia – 2004 and 2012) are the only other athletes who were able to accomplish this feat.

Lindsey Parry, coach at the High Performance Centre (hpc), certainly played a major role in bringing about these ‘firsts’ because he coaches both Wöstmann and Charné Bosman. Bosman, who finished second (6:33:21), is sponsored by Nedbank and Tuks/hpc. She improved her previous best Comrades time by about 20 minutes.

Wöstmann certainly gave the impression that she was enjoying her day out on the road. She never stopped smiling during the entire race.

What was interesting about her performance was that she took the lead quite early, definitely earlier than Parry and she had planned for her to do. Parry wanted her to take control over the last 30 kilometres but she was in the lead well before then.

Wöstmann admits that she battled over the last 20 kilometres and that it was only guts and perseverance that kept her going.

After she finished she laid down flat on her back, but never stopped smiling.

“It was a wonderful day with me winning and Charné finishing second, especially because it has been such a long time since South African female athletes were able to do so.

“I did take the lead earlier than planned, but I knew what I was capable of. Right now my body is aching all over but winning makes all the pain worthwhile,” Wöstmann said.

She was full of praise for Parry.

“Before Lindsey started to coach me I was constantly sore after a hard workout. A month after he started coaching me I stopped hurting. I think it has to do with the way he structures his training program.

“Another big difference about the way he coaches was that we did not do that many quality sessions but when we did so it was really hard.

“After a quality session Lindsey would let me do easy runs which enabled me to recover for the next quality session. It was mainly due to his vision and planning that I was able to recover after winning the Two Oceans.”

As coach, Parry is reluctant to take credit for the feats of Wöstmann, and Bosman.
“I think I was fortunate to grow up in a house with a father who was a runner. I have been running since I was five years old and started coaching when I was 19. I have experimented on myself and on friends over the years and through my studies I have learned how the human body works,” said Parry.

His own best time in the Two Oceans is 3 hours 58 minutes and in the Comrades it is 7 hours 11 minutes.

“In the past I have made many mistakes as a coach. It was only during the past three years that I began to get things right more often than wrong.

“One thing I have learned from coaching is that when you are standing on the top of a mountain it is very easy to fall back to the bottom. So we need to stay grounded and not get ahead of ourselves. We should also make sure that we keep on learning all the time.”

Parry’s dad, Trevor, competed in the Comrades 24 times and won three gold medals.

TOP 10 MEN
1 Gift Kelehe (South Africa), Samancor Chrome Marathon Club, 5:38:36
2 Mohammed Husien (Ethiopia), Nedbank Running Club, 5:46:14
3 Hatiwande Nyamande (South Africa), F1 Xcallibre Running Club, 5:48:19
4 Lebohang Monyele (Lesotho), Maxed Elite Pro club, 5:52:32
5 Teboho Sello (Lesotho), Maxed Elite Pro club, 5:54:03
6 Joseph Mphuti (South Africa), Sibanye Gold Beatrix Mine Athletic Club, 5:54:29
7 Claude Moshiywa (South Africa), Nedbank Running Club, 5:55:17
8 Stephen Muzhingi (Zimbabwe), Fast Way AC, 5:56:36
9 Sandile Ngunuza (South Africa), Nedbank Running Club, 5:57:08
10 Thuso Mosiea (South Africa), Maxed Elite Pro Club, 5:59:08

TOP 10 WOMEN
1 Caroline Wostmann (South Africa), Nedbank Running Club, 6:12:22
2 Charne Bosman (South Africa), Nedbank Running Club, 6.33:24
3 Elena Nurgalieva (Russia), Team Vitality, 6:40.36
4 Olesya Nurgalieva (Russia), Team Vitality, 6:41:18
5 Nina Podnebesnova (Russia), Nedbank Running Club, 6:41:48
6 Eleanor Greenwood (Britain), Nedbank Running Club, 6:44:03
7 Emmerantia Rautenbach (South Africa), Nedbank Running Club, 6:45:22
8 Joasia Zakrzewski (Britain), Nedbank Running Club, 7:00.45
9 Simona Staicu (Hungary), Nedbank Running Club, 7:01:14
10 Yolande McLean (South Africa), Born 2 Run Athletics Club, 7:01:49

The Modern Athlete Pacesetting Buses have become an important part of the race, with thousands of runners relying on the experienced bus drivers and conductors to help them reach their target times, or get home before the final cut-off gun.

This year we’re providing more buses than ever before, notably in that massively important last hour of the race when more than half the field comes home, and these talented, dedicated runners with their flags denoting target time are the ones to look out for on race day (the number in brackets is the amount of Comrades medals they each have). Come meet them at the Modern Athlete stand during the Expo, and watch for social media announcements of the times when they will be available for a pre-race chat.

Sub-12:00 Vic Clapham Bus
Vlam Pieterse (23) & Derrick Rondganger (7)

Sub-11:45 Vic Clapham Bus
Frans Campher (19)

Sub-11:30 Pink Drive Vic Clapham Bus

Wietsche Van Der Westhuizen (37) & Hilton Murray (11)

SUB-11:00 Bronze Bus
Jackie Campher (13), Jeff Ramokoka (16) & Chris Kubeka (13)

Sub-9:00 Bill Rowan Bus
Johan Van Tonder (12) & Shane van Dam (8)

Charné Bosman (Nedbank) could just be the proverbial “Joker” on Sunday in the women’s Comrades-race and cause an upset nobody expected.

In the build-up to the Comrades she purposely chose to ‘fly under the radar’ because she did not want to race to people’s expectations. In fact, if she could have it her way, she would run every step of the way from Durban to Pietermaritzburg according to the lyrics of Frank Sinatra’s great hit – My Way:

“Regrets, I've had a few; But then again, too few to mention; I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption; I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway; And more, much more than this, I did it my way.”

Bosman reiterated that she plans to run her own race.

“I am not going to allow the Russians, or for that matter any other athlete, to steal my energy.”
The Tuks/hpc athlete made it clear that she has paid her ‘school fees’ as far as running the Comrades is concerned. She remembers her first Comrades race in 2013 as a case of ‘fools rushing in where angels fear to tread’. She actually did very well by finishing in fifth place which was the best performance by a South African female athlete.

“It was quite an experience. I did everything wrong. For example I had no race-plan. I just ran according to how I felt and that turned out to be a big mistake. I ended up running too fast when I should in fact have been saving my energy for when it mattered. I was also clueless about the Comrades route. I only found out where Fields Hill was when a fellow athlete told me. It was at Fields Hill where I started making mistakes. I ran at a pace of 4 minutes per kilometre when I should in fact have run at 4:20 minutes per kilometre.

“When I got to the 60km marker my legs were dead. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I am no quitter. Luckily I recovered towards the end of the race. It was only afterwards, when I read the book by the Comrades legend, Bruce Fordyce, that I realized how naïve I was going into my first Comrades.

Bosman has no fond memories about last year’s Comrades either. Unfortunately, she collapsed during the race because of a dysfunctional thyroid. She was unconscious for a few minutes and had to ‘finish’ her race in an ambulance.

Her thyroid gland was checked this week and according the doctor she has nothing to worry about.
According to Bosman her preparation has been going well. This is mainly thanks to the input of Lindsey Parry, coach at the High Performance Centre (hpc) in Pretoria.

“During the short time that Lindsey has been coaching me he made me realize the importance of sticking to a definite training plan, as well as a definite race plan. Every kilometre I ran in preparation for the Comrades has been carefully planned by Lindsey with a sound motivation as to why I am doing it. For Comrades he has worked out a definite race strategy and I know that if I stick to it I am bound to have a good race. My main goal is have a strong finish.”

According to Bosman she is eagerly counting down the final days to the Comrades.
“It is now nice getting up each morning knowing that the kilometres I need to run in training are getting less and less.”

With 10 days to the 90th celebration of the world’s biggest and best ultra-marathon, the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) has announced a special lifeline to those runners who failed to submit their qualifying details to the CMA by the deadline – 4 May 2015. They will be granted dispensation until Thursday, 21 May 2015 at 16h30.

CMA General Manager, Chris Fisher says, ‘In line with the CMA’s Vision, we plan to make the 90th Comrades Marathon even more inclusive. We have therefore decided to grant a dispensation to those runners who did not submit their qualifying details to the CMA despite several requests to do so.’

However, these runners must take note that this dispensation comes with limitations. These late changes and having to chase up runners for this information places tremendous pressure on our office staff and volunteers. It may necessitate a dedicated queue at the Durban Registration Venue at the Comrades Expo, specifically for all those who have missed the cut-off date, so that they do not delay the registration of other runners.

This will only be available at the Durban Registration Venue at the Comrades Expo and not in Pietermaritzburg. Furthermore, they will have to start at the back of the race, as the allocation of seeding batches has already closed.

In order to secure their place on the Start line, these specific runners have been sent an email and SMS with all necessary instructions and must respond by close of business on Thursday, 21 May 2015 at 16h30. Any runner who misses Thursday’s deadline will not be able to register at the Durban Expo.

Fisher says, ‘We have been inundated with both appeals and threats from runners who missed the deadline to be allowed to run the celebratory edition of the race on Sunday, 31 May 2015, including some incredibly original excuses from our runners as to why they had failed to submit these important details.’

Fisher adds, ‘One of our most important stakeholders are our runners, hence we have decided to allow this dispensation in line with the 90th Comrades celebration and a brand personality of empathy, character, humility and togetherness. At the end of the day Comrades is about the spirit that accompanies the race. Comrades help other comrades. The 90th Comrades Marathon promises to be the best yet and we look forward to seeing more runners on the Start line.’

CMA Chairman Macdonald Chitja added, “This decision was taken with only the interest of our runners at heart and allowing them to “Be Part of It” in our 90th celebratory race. We take cognizance of the added pressure this brings and take this opportunity to thank our General Manager and Race Director for supporting and implementing the decision, notwithstanding the added work the decision brings to the team.”