Hundreds of Border-Kei runners are making their way to Durban or Pietermaritzburg this week to chase their dreams of a Comrades Marathon medal.
There are no gold medal contenders this year, with Stephanie Smith not running, but silver medals for a sub seven-and-a-half hours are a realistic goal for all who have at least a sub three-hour marathon to their name.
Those who complete the 90km of hills to the Durban finish in under nine hours will receive a Bill Rowan medal.
Rowan was the first winner of Comrades in 1921 and he finished in a shade under the nine-hour barrier.
A finish between nine and a sub 11-hour realises a bronze medal and anything else before the 12-hour cut-off delivers a Vic Clapham medal.
Smith, who is expecting her first child in August, does however have an interest and indeed a bearing on the outcome in that she is one of the coaches at Born 2 Run and also does specialised coaching with BO&ST.
Smith said yesterday that she was upbeat about the prospects of her charges.
“I am expecting a number of personal bests. The training has gone really well and the commitment has been outstanding from both the men and women.”
Real Gijimas once again have the largest contingent and have been seen running the roads of East London ragged since January in preparation for what is fondly known as the Big C.
Club chairman, Alex Kambule said this week that “race preparations went really well” and The City of Rivers (a joint ultra training run with Born 2 Run) was new to many and a real eye-opener on how to tackle ultra running.
Kambule is himself a veteran of many Comrades and knows what he is talking about.
“Yes you can quote me, we have a few athletes who can bag silver if they approach the race as planned,” he said.
Queenstown Harriers have another strong contingent and although he is a veteran in age terms, Zakhutini Retyu, for many years the region’s leading contender, is probably still the one to beat.
A fine runner, Retyu has many silver medals from both Comrades and the more taxing, silverwise, Two Oceans.
Old Selbornian Road Runners president, Sharon Eldridge, who is running her 25th Comrades, joked yesterday that she might run silver, something she should have done in her youth.
East London AC will be hoping that Brandon van der Merwe can produce the form that he is capable of and run a good silver time.
All Stars are another club who joined in on a joint training session with Smith and her team, and although the contingent is small, they have experience, and in Siyabongo Lele they have a strong contender to lead the Border brigade home.
Oxford Striders have about 40 runners entered, though no communication on their runner’s chances had been received at the time of writing.
Nonetheless, at last year’s finish this scribe was told by Izak Kruger that he and Raymond de Klerk would be going for silver this year. Sunday will deliver the verdict.
Cheetahs of Mthatha have a strong group of 44 runners with an abundance of talent, but despite the youthfulness of their squad, a good deal of the spotlight will fall on Mongezi Novokoza, running in the 60-plus age group. He has featured in every age group on the way up and is bound to do so again come the weekend.
Dark cloud can have a silver lining
There are no gold medal contenders this year, with Stephanie Smith not running, but silver medals for a sub seven-and-a-half hours are a realistic goal for all who have at least a sub three-hour marathon to their name.
Those who complete the 90km of hills to the Durban finish in under nine hours will receive a Bill Rowan medal.
Rowan was the first winner of Comrades in 1921 and he finished in a shade under the nine-hour barrier.
A finish between nine and a sub 11-hour realises a bronze medal and anything else before the 12-hour cut-off delivers a Vic Clapham medal.
Smith, who is expecting her first child in August, does however have an interest and indeed a bearing on the outcome in that she is one of the coaches at Born 2 Run and also does specialised coaching with BO&ST.
Smith said yesterday that she was upbeat about the prospects of her charges.
“I am expecting a number of personal bests. The training has gone really well and the commitment has been outstanding from both the men and women.”
Real Gijimas once again have the largest contingent and have been seen running the roads of East London ragged since January in preparation for what is fondly known as the Big C.
Club chairman, Alex Kambule said this week that “race preparations went really well” and The City of Rivers (a joint ultra training run with Born 2 Run) was new to many and a real eye-opener on how to tackle ultra running.
Kambule is himself a veteran of many Comrades and knows what he is talking about.
“Yes you can quote me, we have a few athletes who can bag silver if they approach the race as planned,” he said.
Queenstown Harriers have another strong contingent and although he is a veteran in age terms, Zakhutini Retyu, for many years the region’s leading contender, is probably still the one to beat.
A fine runner, Retyu has many silver medals from both Comrades and the more taxing, silverwise, Two Oceans.
Old Selbornian Road Runners president, Sharon Eldridge, who is running her 25th Comrades, joked yesterday that she might run silver, something she should have done in her youth.
East London AC will be hoping that Brandon van der Merwe can produce the form that he is capable of and run a good silver time.
All Stars are another club who joined in on a joint training session with Smith and her team, and although the contingent is small, they have experience, and in Siyabongo Lele they have a strong contender to lead the Border brigade home.
Oxford Striders have about 40 runners entered, though no communication on their runner’s chances had been received at the time of writing.
Nonetheless, at last year’s finish this scribe was told by Izak Kruger that he and Raymond de Klerk would be going for silver this year. Sunday will deliver the verdict.
Cheetahs of Mthatha have a strong group of 44 runners with an abundance of talent, but despite the youthfulness of their squad, a good deal of the spotlight will fall on Mongezi Novokoza, running in the 60-plus age group. He has featured in every age group on the way up and is bound to do so again come the weekend.
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