Mthembu matches Fordyce’s double run:
SA’s Mthembu matches marathon legend Bruce Fordyce’s run double
IF sense of occasion was an examinable subject, Bongmusa Mthembu and Camille Herron used yesterday’s 93rd edition of the Comrades Marathon to exhibit their excellence in the field. With his second title following his 2014 down run win, Mthembu (5:35:34) became the first South African athlete to complete the Comrades Marathon up and down run double since Bruce Fordyce in 1987 while Herron (6:27:35) became the first American since Ann Trason in 1997 to win the race.
Mthembu also became the first black South African athlete to complete the up and down run double.
Herron, who broke down in tears of joy while also nearly forgetting to finish the race, said she wanted to match her compatriot’s efforts.
Herron did all the hard work from Pinetown when she took the lead, only for her to think she’d won by just entering the Scottsville Race Course.
A fellow racer had to remind her that she still had to finish, but at that point she was never in danger of being shocked by second placed Russian Alexandra Morozova (6:31:45), who was entering Pietermaritzburg at the time.
The 2016 down-run champion and 2014 up-run runner up, Charne Bosman, was third in 6:39:51.
“Ann Trason won the Comrades and the Western States race in back-to-back years and that’s been my goal ever since,” Herron said. “In three weeks time, I’ll be running my first 100-mile race.
“Next year, I’ll be back to take part in the down run and try to win it because that’s what Ann Trason did.
“I’ve been thinking about the Comrades since 1995 when I read Professor Timothy Noakes’ book and it’s been the only ultramarathon I’ve been thinking about.
“It was a big deal reading about Bruce Fordyce and the legends.”
Whatever she read in that book or nuggets of advice it contained, she used them wisely in a well-paced race.
She was not under threat at any stage, even though Morozova mounted a belated surge at Umlaas Road.
It was too late at that point and the Oklahoma-born trail run specialist made up for her 2015 disappointment when sickness prevented her from finishing.
Mthembu did not have it all his own way as Hatiwande Nyamande (5:38:48) and Gift Kelehe (5:41:48) asked questions of him.
Having failed dismally by his high standards in the 2015 edition, where he did not finish in the top 10, Mthembu paced his race perfectly while watching the likes of early pacemaker Thobani Chagwe and Charles Tijane fade in the fierce Midlands heat.
Nyamande, who improved on his 2015 third-place finish by more than 10 minutes, and Kelehe probed until the crucial Polly Shortts point, from where Mthembu shifted into another gear.
Mthembu’s winning time was off Leonid Shvetzov’s 2008 record of 5:24:49 but it was faster than Kelehe’s 2015 time of 5:38:36.
Mthembu, who was greeted at the finish line by his nine-year-old son Sisanda, said his win was a triumph for not only his family, but rural athletes.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from, all I’m trying to do, by all means, is to be my son’s role model,” he said.
“One thing we must know is that most of South Africa’s running talent is from the rural areas and that talent needs to be properly cultivated.”
One thing now is clear, the myth of South African athletes not being able to hold their own in the up-run has been totally debunked.
Across the men’s and women’s races, 10 of the top 20 finishers were South African, with an equal split across the sexes.
‘ South Africa's running talent is from the rural areas and that talent needs to be cultivated