First at top of Polly Shortts will win race – Kelehe
LIKE heavyweight boxers before a big-ticket match-up, the elite athletes for tomorrow’s 86,73 km Comrades Marathon ‘up run’ strutted their stuff in front of the media, and their competitors, in Durban yesterday. However, the biggest hits came in the form of a soft-spoken duo from the same club.
There is plenty of Comrades ultra distance royalty taking part in this year’s race. From previous winners Claude Moshiywa (2013), and the outspoken Ludwick Mamabolo (2012), to KwaZulu-Natal’s own Bongmusa Mthembu (2014), and that is just from the recent South African retake of this race.
Most recently, Comrades has been dominated by two men who have partnered under the colours of TomTom. Defending ‘ up-run’ champion, Gift Kelehe, and last year’s winner on the ‘down-run’ and record-breaker, David Gatebe.
Gatebe added to the South African pride when he won last year, making it five in a row. He also smashed a long standing down-run record set by Russian Leonid Shvetsov, finishing in 5:18:19, before famously smashing a few push-ups on the Kingsmead finish line.
Kelehe, a for mer policeman from Rustenburg, echoed his brother Andrew Kelehe’s achievement 14 years prior by winning in a time of 5:38:36, mastering the hills on the way to Pietermaritzburg.
These two must be the favourites for the men’s race, but as this is really an individual sport, what happens when the finish line looms and the teammates are within shot?
“I hope that both David, and my- self, are at the top of Polly Shortts together,” Kelehe said. “Because then it will be every man for himself ! Our coach, John Hamlett, has said if that is the case, he will fold his arms and turn away as we race it out for the line together.
“But it really doesn’t matter what the outcome is between us. It has been a blessing and an honour to train with David for this race and I know with his speed, he will get the best out of me.”
Gatebe and Kelehe compliment each other well. Kelehe is no stranger to the hills of the up-run while there is no doubting Gatebe’s speed. They are bound to work well together and aid each other through the different challenges, including the other competition.
With the likes of Mamabolo laying an open challenge to all the runners not from his team Nedbank, the quiet Gatebe simply stated that he did not need to say too much before the race.
“When Sunday comes, then I will do my talking,” Gatebe said yesterday. “I will let my legs do the talking and they can try and keep up with my pace.”
In terms of a strategy, much has been spoken about Polly Shortts, the final and daunting hill before the run into Pietermaritzburg and the finish line, but seeing as how Kelehe made light work of it in the last ‘up-run’ it may well be his for the taking again.
“The first man at the top of Polly Shortts will take it,” Kelehe predicted.
The only caveat to that probably is if Kelehe and Gatebe top the hill together, as the most recent champion has said: “If I top Polly Shortts first, I can’t be caught, those last 10km I will just fly down them!”
Unfortunately for the competitiveness of the women’s race, the burgeoning rivalry between 2015 up-run winner Caroline Wostmann and last year’s champion Charne Bosman will have to take a back seat. Wostmann withdrew with injury and Bosman was sympathetic to her situation.
“It is sad to see Caroline fall out so soon before the race. If it was me I would be devastated,” Bosman sympathised. “But there are plenty of other strong competitors, and I will just be out there to run my race, to focus on my kilometres.”
Bosman came second to Wostmann in the last up-run and would love to be the first South African since Frith van der Merwe in 1988/89 to win consecutive races – up and down.