Smith chases gold at Comrades

She’s a strong contender after her Two Oceans run

THE Comrades Marathon is a multiplicity of stories, life experiences, defining moments, bravery, pushing boundaries and a search for excellence.

Many a sporting hero has been born out of the footrace between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, though not all memories endure and every one of the Border folk who will be travelling to run Comrades tomorrow will have their own enduring personal memories. Some will be light-hearted while others will be of pain and perhaps disappointment. Eventually these will blur into simple experience.

There are no gold medal contenders among the East London men’s club teams and only one among the women. There are a number of silver, Bill Rowan and many bronze and Vic Clapham medals, however.

Born 2 Run’s Stephanie Smith has not yet earned a Comrades gold, but she did do so at the 56km Two Oceans in April and is considered a strong contender tomorrow.

Looking Smith in the eye and addressing her directly at a Comrades talk and general running chat last week, Gordon Shaw, twice second at Comrades said, “I want to tell you Stephanie, a Comrades gold is much easier than those of Two Oceans. You can do it.”

Doing the double – be it gold or silver – is infinitely tougher still.

Smith certainly has what it takes to win gold or at the very least a good silver, as she did in 2014, running a 7 hours and 11 minutes while finishing 13th.

The day will tell what her legs have in them following a good Buffs Marathon and an excellent Two Oceans. The unknown quantity remains the aftermath of running the Prague Marathon, two weeks after Oceans, in a near personal best (PB) time.

It was after this that her coach enticed Bruce Fordyce into sending Smith a direct message in respect of cutting back on training.

To her advantage is the strong seconding team that her club will be providing and that she will again start in the elite athlete’s seeding, which provides many perks.

The fastest of the local runners is likely to be the same man as last year – Bonginkosi Noluhlazana of Cheetahs AC. He has run Comrades on seven occasions and earned a silver medal for a sub 7:30 on each occasion. His fastest was on a downrun when he recorded 6:26:52, while his best up time is 6:42:10.

Overtakers have a two-time silver medallist in Xolile Mashicila who has a best time of 7:07:31, while Zakhutini Retyu of Queenstown Harriers, Mawanda Sihele of Old Mutual and Lwandile Ngobe of Real Gijimas are all current silver medal holders and contenders again.

Realistically, no runner who has not recently comfortably broken three hours for a standard marathon, can hope to run a silver time.

There are many who do break three in the build-up every year, but cannot hold on for a Comrades silver.

With this year’s course being a much shortened 86.8km, if they do not do it now, they are unlikely to ever do so. Likewise for those wishing to win Bill Rowan medals, a sub 3:30 marathon would seem to be the qualification requirement.

Many others have special reasons to get to the finish, such as the likes of Mike Webb, of Gonubie Harriers, who runs in his pink fairy outfit to raise money for the much-distressed King William’s Town SPCA.

Cancer survivor Morné Julyan, of Born 2 Run, will also be on a charity run raising funds for CHOC.

Tim Stones, also of Born 2 Run, ran Two Oceans for his chosen charity and will be running Comrades in similar vein. Stones who is hearing impaired himself, will be raising funds for the Decibel Cochlear Campaign in order to bring the gift of hearing to a child. — DDC