All eyes on Wiersma and Steyn at 99th Comrades Marathon
· Citizen
Defending ‘up’ run champions Piet Wiersma and Gerda Steyn will line up among the favourites to retain their titles, but both athletes will need to be at their best against strong fields at the 99th edition of the Comrades Marathon between Durban and Pietermaritzburg starting at 5am on Sunday.
Of the athletes who finished among the top 10 men and women on last year’s ‘down’ run, the only individual missing from the line-up this weekend is former women’s winner Alexandra Morozova of Russia.
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The depth of the elite field promises to produce cracking men’s and women’s contests over the gruelling 85.77km route as they chase a share of the record R8.2 million prize purse (including bonuses and incentives).
Men’s race
In the men’s contest, Wiersma’s strongest challenge could come from his perennial rival and three-time Comrades champion Tete Dijana, who outsprinted the Dutch athlete to win the last two editions of the ‘down’ run in 2023 and 2025.
However, Dijana has never emerged triumphant on the ‘up’ run and he will need to dig deep to outclass the equally consistent Wiersma.
Should he win, Dijana will become the first man to win the race more than three times since nine-time champion Bruce Fordyce secured his last victory in 1990.
Other contenders in the men’s event include another consistent performer, Edward Mothibi (who won the race in 2019), as well as George Kusche, a former middle-distance track specialist who clocked 2:15:02 at the windy Peninsula Marathon race in Cape Town earlier this year, and former Two Oceans ultra-marathon champion Onalenna Khonkhobe, who has twice gone out too hard at Comrades and given his opponents a scare before fading in the closing stages.
Women’s race
Among the women, all eyes will be on record holder Steyn, who aims to become the seventh athlete, and only the second woman, to win Comrades five times.
If anyone can beat the ‘Smiling Assassin’, it’s South African 50km record holder Irvette van Zyl, who finished fourth on debut on the ‘down’ run last year and has pushed Steyn to the line at multiple editions of the 56km Two Oceans race.
Shelmith Muriuki, a former winner of the 50km City2City ultra-marathon in Gauteng, will also be eager to spring surprise after finishing third on debut last year, as she aims to become the first Kenyan athlete to secure the Comrades title.