Author: Modern Athlete

The 2014 Comrades Marathon delivered a stunning race with many highlights – and a number of surprises. From an all-South African men’s podium, the Brit who broke the Russian stronghold, Zola’s stunning gold and various milestone finishes, we relive the greatest moments of this year’s race.

Around 14 600 athletes set off from Pietermaritzburg at the start of the 2014 Comrades, and 12 hours later 11 984 had crossed the finish line in Durban to beat the 5:30pm cut-off gun. The stadium was once again filled by an enthusiastic crowd, whose roar of approval was clear as they witnessed a South African 1-2-3 in the men’s race as KZN local Bongmusa Mthembu from Nedbank broke the tape in 5:28:34, followed by teammate and 2012 winner Ludwick Mamabolo (5:33:14), with Gift Kelehe third (5:34:39).

The new champ said afterwards he did not feel any pressure, as he felt there was more focus on Ludwick and on defending champ Claude Moshiywa (who withdrew during the race due to a niggling hamstring injury). “I was confident and ran with the top guys and knew they wouldn’t give up easily, but nobody thought about me, nobody mentioned me,” says Bongmusa, “I think that’s why I was in such a good position – I ran my own race and was comfortable throughout.” He added that winning Comrades had been his dream since he watched it on TV when young, but with a first taste of glory, now he wants more. “This is just the beginning. It’s straight back to work from here because I like to push myself hard and to compete and win more.”

Breaking the Stronghold

In the women’s race, all eyes were on eight-time winner Elena Nurgalieva to see if she could win the race a ninth time and pull level with the Comrades King himself, Bruce Fordyce. However, an incredible late surge saw Britain’s Eleanor Greenwood overtake Elena and twin sister Olesya to claim her first Comrades win in 6:18:15. Her 27:50 split for the last 7km, averaging
3:59/km, was the second-fastest for that section in the entire field – only sixth-placed man Mncedisi Mkhize was faster in 26:56! Elena and Olesya held on for second and third respectively.

Speaking after her win, which saw her close an eight-minute gap with just 17km to go, Eleanor said she had simply run her own race. “I kept to my game plan even though the twins were in the back of my mind. Then with about 5km to go, I saw the timing car ahead and knew I had my chance to catch up,” she said. “The win means everything. This is the highlight of my career!”

SA Surprises

With two new winners crowned, another big surprise saw Nedbank’s Caroline Wostmann finish sixth woman and first SA woman in 6:51:43. Her rise to a top 10 position and a gold medal in her fourth Comrades is nothing short of remarkable, having gone from a bronze medal in 2009 (9:17:39), on to a 8:33:29 Bill Rowan in 2011 and then a 7:16:48 Silver in her previous runs. Equally popular finishes came from South Africans Martinique Potgieter and Julanie Basson, who rounded off the women’s top 10 with their ninth and tenth place finishes in 7:00:46 and 7:02:50 respectively.

However, the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for former world record holder over 5000m, the legendary Zola Budd Pieterse, who finished seventh in the women’s race in 6:55:55 to earn her first gold in her second Comrades outing. The 48-year-old’s top-10 finish was bittersweet, though, as her thoughts were constantly on her former coach and dear friend Pierre Korkie, who has been held hostage in Yemen for more than a year. “I have always dreamt of running a gold medal at Comrades, but today I was running for Pierre,” said Zola. “The run was an emotional rollercoaster, and if it wasn’t for the support, I don’t think I would’ve made it to the finish. It was the hardest day of my life, and this gold is for Pierre.”

The Comrades Marathon is a massive physical and mental challenge for the average runner, and just finishing the 89km race is considered a big achievement. But after 2014, thanks to Hilton Murray and the Ten10 Challenge, nobody will ever quite look at the Comrades distance in quite the same way.

When Hilton Murray, Hazel Moller and Carlo Gibson set out from Bedfordview Country Club (BCC) on Friday 23 May, intending to run from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg, doing the Comrades distance each day within 12 hours for nine days, then run the Comrades itself on the tenth day, many said it couldn’t be done, that the human body would not be able to handle that distance. Carlo and Hazel unfortunately did not complete the challenge, but Hilton, an average 47-year-old guy from Bellville Athletic Club in the Cape – he’ll be the first to point out that he is no super-athlete, and is usually under-trained as well – made it all the way, including an 11:46 finish on race day. He does admit that it was tough-going, though.

“The guys who have done six-day circuit races warned me that the third day is the toughest, and I saw what they meant, but at the end of the fifth day, I realised it was doable, because I had gotten into a groove, and I was 99% sure I was going to make it all the way,” says Hilton. “From there each day was a bit easier, even though I would always get to 65km and start slogging to finish within 12 hours. But there is only one Comrades, and the last day was still the most difficult, because of that route!”

PERSONAL CHALLENGE

Hazel made the headlines last year when she ran back-to-back Washie 100 Milers, which she did to raise funds for PETS (Pets Empowerment in Townships), and the BCC runner is a veteran of hundreds of ultras and multi-day events. Hilton, an accountant by trade but more recently part of the Newton shoe venture started in SA by Zola Pieterse, made contact with her last year when he heard that she ran in Newtons, and the friendship grew from there. When they spoke in January, Hazel said she had an idea for a new challenge, the Ten10, and invited Hilton to run with her. She also found a third runner, Carlo of neighbouring club Jeppe Quondam, when she mentioned the Challenge on a morning run in Johannesburg.

“When Hazel told me her idea, at first I didn’t think it was possible, but after two weeks I thought why not, since I had always wanted to do some personal challenge,” says Hilton. “So I followed a normal Comrades training programme, doing about 90km a week, but Hazel did 200km per week – luckily she only told me that the night before we started the Ten10, otherwise I may have stepped away from it!”

SCENIC ROUTE

The team planned what Hilton calls a “scenic route,” passing through Oranjeville, Frankfort, Reitz, Warden, Bethlehem, Fouriesburg, Clarens, Harrismith, Estcort and Howick. “We wanted to see the country, so it was not the easiest course, and after three days we found we were having problems covering 90km in 12 hours, so we cut it shorter to 87km,” says Hilton. “That also allowed us to get a bit more rest, after finding guest houses and preparing food each evening.”

The team was seconded by Hazel’s husband Chris, and Hilton’s wife Lizet and brother Marius, and initially all went well, but then Carlo and Hazel both picked up problems. He suffered a recurrence of an old leg injury and had to pull out just as they started day four, then Hazel’s ulcer began bleeding, forcing her out as well after six days. She decided to rest up for race day and went on to finish comfortably in 8:36:00. (Lizet also ran the race, but found that seconding duties had sapped too much of her energy and she decided to bail at 53km when she realised she wasn’t going to make the cut-off.)

That left Hilton to run alone from Harrismith, and he says day nine was emotionally the toughest of them all. “We would have run a loop from Estcort, but at halfway the road got very busy and there was no shoulder to run on, so I decided to rather backtrack for the rest of the distance. The problem was, that morning I had a visit from clubmates at the start, and we took pics running together in the mist, so I didn’t realise it was all downhill. When I got to the last four kays, and it was uphill, I had to work really hard to come in under 12 hours. I made it in 11:56, but I was totally wasted – not exactly tapering before race day!”

FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Like Hazel, Hilton decided to run the challenge for a charity, but his first choice did not work out. “I wear a penguin on my hat because I support SANCCOB, for the penguins, but I decided to rather run for one of the official charity of the Comrades. The Pink Drive is another cause close to my heart, because my wife had cancer a few years ago, and also a work colleague, who has breast cancer and had an operation three weeks before I began the challenge, so I also ran for her.” Carlo decided to also run for the two charities chosen by Hazel and Hilton, and the team decided to set themselves a target of raising R100 000. “We raised R72 000 on the website, but my biggest surprise was the pledge line,” says Hilton. “When I came into the stadium on race day, I was carrying a banner with the SMS number on it for just the last 400m, and we apparently received another R11 000 just from that!”

He adds that he was blown away by the amount of attention the challenge received, both in mainstream media and social media. “I was totally oblivious to all the hype at first, I was just running, eating and sleeping, but after the fifth day I realised something was going on. I was getting over 100 SMS messages and another 100-plus Facebook messages per day, and I simply couldn’t keep up – I would type an answer and get three new messages in the meantime! Even then, I didn’t realise how big it had grown, until I heard people along the route calling my name as I passed, ‘Penguin Man, Hilton Murray, Ten10, go for it.’ A huge thank you must go to Patrick Devine for handling the social media side of things, and to Gerald Yapp for designing and hosting the website.”

LET’S DO IT AGAIN

With the success of the 2014 Ten10 Challenge, the intrepid trio have already committed to repeating the run. “The Ten10 Challenge is going to happen again, and Hazel and Carlo want to try again, but I will only be involved in organising and seconding,” says Hilton, adding that they have big plans for 2015. “It is an excellent platform to raise funds for charity, so we’re thinking of having eight to 10 runners, and we want corporate sponsors to come on board. We think we have established a nice base to work from and are hoping to make this an annual event as part of the run-up to Comrades.”

Hazel adds, “A huge thank you needs to go to the Bedfordview Country Club members who sacrificed their time, effort and money to create the event infrastructure for the Ten10 Challenge. Without their dedication and commitment, my dream to raise money for PETS would not have materialised, and we have already put together a committee to ensure the event is organised and run even more effectively next year, so that we can continue to raise much-needed funds for these charities.”

The 2014 Comrades Marathon delivered a stunning race with many highlights – and a number of surprises. From an all-South African men’s podium, the Brit who broke the Russian stronghold, Zola’s stunning gold and various milestone finishes, we relive the greatest moments of this year’s race.

Around 14 600 athletes set off from Pietermaritzburg at the start of the 2014 Comrades, and 12 hours later 11 984 had crossed the finish line in Durban to beat the 5:30pm cut-off gun. The stadium was once again filled by an enthusiastic crowd, whose roar of approval was clear as they witnessed a South African 1-2-3 in the men’s race as KZN local Bongmusa Mthembu from Nedbank broke the tape in 5:28:34, followed by teammate and 2012 winner Ludwick Mamabolo (5:33:14), with Gift Kelehe third (5:34:39).

The new champ said afterwards he did not feel any pressure, as he felt there was more focus on Ludwick and on defending champ Claude Moshiywa (who withdrew during the race due to a niggling hamstring injury). “I was confident and ran with the top guys and knew they wouldn’t give up easily, but nobody thought about me, nobody mentioned me,” says Bongmusa, “I think that’s why I was in such a good position – I ran my own race and was comfortable throughout.” He added that winning Comrades had been his dream since he watched it on TV when young, but with a first taste of glory, now he wants more. “This is just the beginning. It’s straight back to work from here because I like to push myself hard and to compete and win more.”

Breaking the Stronghold

In the women’s race, all eyes were on eight-time winner Elena Nurgalieva to see if she could win the race a ninth time and pull level with the Comrades King himself, Bruce Fordyce. However, an incredible late surge saw Britain’s Eleanor Greenwood overtake Elena and twin sister Olesya to claim her first Comrades win in 6:18:15. Her 27:50 split for the last 7km, averaging
3:59/km, was the second-fastest for that section in the entire field – only sixth-placed man Mncedisi Mkhize was faster in 26:56! Elena and Olesya held on for second and third respectively.

Speaking after her win, which saw her close an eight-minute gap with just 17km to go, Eleanor said she had simply run her own race. “I kept to my game plan even though the twins were in the back of my mind. Then with about 5km to go, I saw the timing car ahead and knew I had my chance to catch up,” she said. “The win means everything. This is the highlight of my career!”

SA Surprises

With two new winners crowned, another big surprise saw Nedbank’s Caroline Wostmann finish sixth woman and first SA woman in 6:51:43. Her rise to a top 10 position and a gold medal in her fourth Comrades is nothing short of remarkable, having gone from a bronze medal in 2009 (9:17:39), on to a 8:33:29 Bill Rowan in 2011 and then a 7:16:48 Silver in her previous runs. Equally popular finishes came from South Africans Martinique Potgieter and Julanie Basson, who rounded off the women’s top 10 with their ninth and tenth place finishes in 7:00:46 and 7:02:50 respectively.

However, the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for former world record holder over 5000m, the legendary Zola Budd Pieterse, who finished seventh in the women’s race in 6:55:55 to earn her first gold in her second Comrades outing. The 48-year-old’s top-10 finish was bittersweet, though, as her thoughts were constantly on her former coach and dear friend Pierre Korkie, who has been held hostage in Yemen for more than a year. “I have always dreamt of running a gold medal at Comrades, but today I was running for Pierre,” said Zola. “The run was an emotional rollercoaster, and if it wasn’t for the support, I don’t think I would’ve made it to the finish. It was the hardest day of my life, and this gold is for Pierre.”

The Comrades Marathon is a massive physical and mental challenge for the average runner, and just finishing the 89km race is considered a big achievement. But after 2014, thanks to Hilton Murray and the Ten10 Challenge, nobody will ever quite look at the Comrades distance in quite the same way.

When Hilton Murray, Hazel Moller and Carlo Gibson set out from Bedfordview Country Club (BCC) on Friday 23 May, intending to run from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg, doing the Comrades distance each day within 12 hours for nine days, then run the Comrades itself on the tenth day, many said it couldn’t be done, that the human body would not be able to handle that distance. Carlo and Hazel unfortunately did not complete the challenge, but Hilton, an average 47-year-old guy from Bellville Athletic Club in the Cape – he’ll be the first to point out that he is no super-athlete, and is usually under-trained as well – made it all the way, including an 11:46 finish on race day. He does admit that it was tough-going, though.

“The guys who have done six-day circuit races warned me that the third day is the toughest, and I saw what they meant, but at the end of the fifth day, I realised it was doable, because I had gotten into a groove, and I was 99% sure I was going to make it all the way,” says Hilton. “From there each day was a bit easier, even though I would always get to 65km and start slogging to finish within 12 hours. But there is only one Comrades, and the last day was still the most difficult, because of that route!”

PERSONAL CHALLENGE

Hazel made the headlines last year when she ran back-to-back Washie 100 Milers, which she did to raise funds for PETS (Pets Empowerment in Townships), and the BCC runner is a veteran of hundreds of ultras and multi-day events. Hilton, an accountant by trade but more recently part of the Newton shoe venture started in SA by Zola Pieterse, made contact with her last year when he heard that she ran in Newtons, and the friendship grew from there. When they spoke in January, Hazel said she had an idea for a new challenge, the Ten10, and invited Hilton to run with her. She also found a third runner, Carlo of neighbouring club Jeppe Quondam, when she mentioned the Challenge on a morning run in Johannesburg.

“When Hazel told me her idea, at first I didn’t think it was possible, but after two weeks I thought why not, since I had always wanted to do some personal challenge,” says Hilton. “So I followed a normal Comrades training programme, doing about 90km a week, but Hazel did 200km per week – luckily she only told me that the night before we started the Ten10, otherwise I may have stepped away from it!”

SCENIC ROUTE

The team planned what Hilton calls a “scenic route,” passing through Oranjeville, Frankfort, Reitz, Warden, Bethlehem, Fouriesburg, Clarens, Harrismith, Estcort and Howick. “We wanted to see the country, so it was not the easiest course, and after three days we found we were having problems covering 90km in 12 hours, so we cut it shorter to 87km,” says Hilton. “That also allowed us to get a bit more rest, after finding guest houses and preparing food each evening.”

The team was seconded by Hazel’s husband Chris, and Hilton’s wife Lizet and brother Marius, and initially all went well, but then Carlo and Hazel both picked up problems. He suffered a recurrence of an old leg injury and had to pull out just as they started day four, then Hazel’s ulcer began bleeding, forcing her out as well after six days. She decided to rest up for race day and went on to finish comfortably in 8:36:00. (Lizet also ran the race, but found that seconding duties had sapped too much of her energy and she decided to bail at 53km when she realised she wasn’t going to make the cut-off.)

That left Hilton to run alone from Harrismith, and he says day nine was emotionally the toughest of them all. “We would have run a loop from Estcort, but at halfway the road got very busy and there was no shoulder to run on, so I decided to rather backtrack for the rest of the distance. The problem was, that morning I had a visit from clubmates at the start, and we took pics running together in the mist, so I didn’t realise it was all downhill. When I got to the last four kays, and it was uphill, I had to work really hard to come in under 12 hours. I made it in 11:56, but I was totally wasted – not exactly tapering before race day!”

FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Like Hazel, Hilton decided to run the challenge for a charity, but his first choice did not work out. “I wear a penguin on my hat because I support SANCCOB, for the penguins, but I decided to rather run for one of the official charity of the Comrades. The Pink Drive is another cause close to my heart, because my wife had cancer a few years ago, and also a work colleague, who has breast cancer and had an operation three weeks before I began the challenge, so I also ran for her.” Carlo decided to also run for the two charities chosen by Hazel and Hilton, and the team decided to set themselves a target of raising R100 000. “We raised R72 000 on the website, but my biggest surprise was the pledge line,” says Hilton. “When I came into the stadium on race day, I was carrying a banner with the SMS number on it for just the last 400m, and we apparently received another R11 000 just from that!”

He adds that he was blown away by the amount of attention the challenge received, both in mainstream media and social media. “I was totally oblivious to all the hype at first, I was just running, eating and sleeping, but after the fifth day I realised something was going on. I was getting over 100 SMS messages and another 100-plus Facebook messages per day, and I simply couldn’t keep up – I would type an answer and get three new messages in the meantime! Even then, I didn’t realise how big it had grown, until I heard people along the route calling my name as I passed, ‘Penguin Man, Hilton Murray, Ten10, go for it.’ A huge thank you must go to Patrick Devine for handling the social media side of things, and to Gerald Yapp for designing and hosting the website.”

LET’S DO IT AGAIN

With the success of the 2014 Ten10 Challenge, the intrepid trio have already committed to repeating the run. “The Ten10 Challenge is going to happen again, and Hazel and Carlo want to try again, but I will only be involved in organising and seconding,” says Hilton, adding that they have big plans for 2015. “It is an excellent platform to raise funds for charity, so we’re thinking of having eight to 10 runners, and we want corporate sponsors to come on board. We think we have established a nice base to work from and are hoping to make this an annual event as part of the run-up to Comrades.”

Hazel adds, “A huge thank you needs to go to the Bedfordview Country Club members who sacrificed their time, effort and money to create the event infrastructure for the Ten10 Challenge. Without their dedication and commitment, my dream to raise money for PETS would not have materialised, and we have already put together a committee to ensure the event is organised and run even more effectively next year, so that we can continue to raise much-needed funds for these charities.”

With Team South Africa heading to Scotland for the Commonwealth Games at the end of July, we spoke to a number of our track athletes and triathletes about their hopes for the Games.

Cornel Fredericks, 400m hurdles: Training has gone well! This will be my first time representing SA at the Commonwealth Games, and I know to win a medal I need to be hungry, focused and ready for that moment!

Andre Olivier, 800m: My goal for Glasgow is first I need to get into the semi’s, then it’s getting into that final, and once there, I hope to get a medal, of course. I think I’ve learnt a lot the last couple of years, that I can run with the big names, so going into these Games I’m full of confidence.

Kate Roberts, Triathlon: I am really excited that I have been selected for the Games in Glasgow, and thank you to everyone who has been there and supported me during this testing time in my triathlon career. I am excited to throw my heart and soul into the next few weeks, give it my everything and to make you all proud.

Simon Magakwe, 100m: Since breaking 10 seconds, I do feel more pressure, because now I have to run it again, and to run that fast is not easy… but I am hoping for the best in Glasgow, to be in the final, and I’m just training to see myself improve.

Fanie van der Merwe, Para-sport 100m: It has been an exciting season so far. We are busy with the Grand Prix series, and had the privilege of a training camp in Gemona, Italy, preparing us for the competitions ahead. I feel extremely privileged to be part of Team SA. I am in good shape, and I will give it my all.

Zarck Visser, Long Jump: All I want to do is make that final first. When I have done that, I’ll be jumping for gold!

Johan Cronje, 1500m: I think I’m lucky, because I haven’t done the necessary workouts for fast times yet, but I’m already running decent times. I just hope all goes well the next month, because then I’ll be in the kind of shape I want to be at the Commonwealth Games.

Wenda Nel, 400m Hurdles: I am very excited for the Games, and my first goal will be to reach the final. Once there, I want to end on the podium. Rankings of athletes are a good idea of their performances, but anything can happen in a final. I want to be the best I can be on the day, and just want to enjoy it.

LJ van Zyl, 400m hurdles: I have good memories from the 2006 Commonwealth Games – gold and a champs record in the hurdles and silver in the 4×400 – and then silver in the hurdles in 2010. Looking ahead, if my rhythm and stride pattern work out well, I’ll have a good Games again, and we also have a mean 4x400m team of Wayde, Cornel, Shaun and myself!

Richard Murray, Triathlon: I really believe I can medal at the Commonwealth Games, the body will be ready, but we need a plan to be implemented from the South African team. Other countries have their plans in place for the race and I hope we can come up with a winning strategy.

Anaso Jobodwana, 4x100m Relay: I’m just aiming to do well for my team and for my country, that’s the main focus right now, and to compete like I always do.

Willem Coertzen, Decathlon: I’m very excited about Glasgow, been working really hard this year! I’m not the guy who speaks a lot before a competition, I let my actions on the day speak for me, but I really do want to do well, and I feel like I have a very good chance to medal, so that’s the main focus going into Glasgow. I’m really pumped up for it!