By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Tete Dijana defended his Comrades Marathon crown on Sunday morning, winning the 87.701km epic from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.
Dijana crossed the line at Kingsmead in a time of 5 hr 14 min 01 sec, stripping more than four minutes off David Gatebe’s best time of 5:18:19 from 2019.
His victory earned him R1.2m, with R500,000 for the win, R500,000 for beating the mark and R200,000 for being the first South African home.
Dijana bided his time, forming part of a large chase group in the early stages of the 87km ultra-marathon as Ayanda Ngcobo led the race through halfway.
He eventually moved in front heading into Pinetown in the latter stages but had to work hard to hold off fighting Dutch athlete Piet Wiersma.
Taking advantage of a course which was shorter than usual, Wiersma (5:14:01) and former ‘up’ run winner Edward Mothibi in third place (5:17:34) also dipped under the previous record.
The top 10 men all dipped under 5:30:00 for the first time in the history of the race, which was being held for the 96th time.
Top 10 men
1 Tete Dijana (RSA) 5:13:58, 2 Piet Wiersma (NED) 5:14:01, 3 Edward Mothibi (RSA) 5:17:34, 4 Gordon Lesetedi (RSA) 5:20:43, 5 Rufus Photo (RSA) 5:21:48, 6 Johannes Makgetla (RSA) 5:23:34, 7 Teboho Sello (RSA) 5:24:23, 8 Aleksei Beresnev (RUS) 5:24:41, 9 Gift Kelehe (RSA) 5:27:53, 10 Joseph Manyedi (RSA) 5:29:49.
Gerda Steyn has obliterated the women’s ‘down’ run record, coasting over the line to earn her second Comrades title in 5:44:54.
She has sliced nearly 10 minutes off Frith van der Merwe’s mark, which had stood for 34 years.
Adele Broodryk took second position, and while she was well off the pace, she would have been pleased to run under six hours, clocking 5:56:26.
Top 10 women
1 Gerda Steyn (RSA) – 5:44:54 ,2 Adele Broodryk (RSA) – 5:56:26, 3 Carla Molinaro (RSA) – 6:00:23 ,4 Dominika Stelmach (POL) – 6:06:02, 5 Caitriona Jennings (IRL) – 6:10:27, 6 Alexandra Morozova (RUS) – 6:14:33 ,7 Petra Pastorova (RUS) – 6:22:34, 8 Noora Honkala (FIN) – 6:25:00, 9 Camille Chaigneau (FRA) – 6:26:58 ,10 Jenet Mbhele (RSA) – 6:27:14.