Tough outing for Zimbabwe athletes at Comrades Marathon

IT was a tough outing for Zimbabwe’s professional ultra-marathon runners who competed in this year’s Comrades Marathon yesterday morning in KwaZulu Natal (KZN), South Africa.

None of the Zimbabwean athletes managed to make the top 10 in both men and women’s categories of the downhill run which started in Pietermaritzburg and ended in Durban. This was the 96th edition of the Comrades Marathon.

Some of the athletes who were expected to fly the Zimbabwean flag high in the decorated event include Lovemore Chabata, Edwin Chimombe, Shepherd Chitake, Prodigal Khumalo, Obrien Bvindi and Tabitha Tsatsa.

Over 100 Zimbabweans lined up at the starting point but unfortunately none managed to make it to the top ten at this very competitive race which had over 15 000 participants from all over the world.

The competition was dominated by South Africans who had a huge presence in both the men and women’s top 10 list.

Veteran South African runner, Gerda Steyn, who was tipped to be the winner in the women’s category lived up to her billing, claiming her second Comrades title in a record time.

She won the race with a new mark for the downhill run of 5 hours 44 minutes 54 seconds.

Steyn was followed by another South African, Adele Broodryk who finished in a time of 5 hrs 56 minutes and 26 seconds while in third place as Carla Molanaro with a time of 6 hrs and 23 seconds.

In the men’s side, South Africa’s Tete Dijana put up a brilliant performance to defend his title, also in record breaking time of 5 hrs,14 minutes and 30 seconds.

He was followed by Netherland’s Piet Wiersma with a time of 5 hrs, 14 minutes and one second and in third place there was Edward Mothibi also from South Africa with a time of 5 hrs,17 minutes and 34 seconds.

The marathon started at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall at 05.30am and ended 12 hours later at the HollywoodBets Kingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban. The distance run was 87,7 kilometres and it was the 48th Comrades Downhill Run. — @brandon_malvin