Blistering

While seven-time winner Elena Nurgalieva has an unequivocal stranglehold over the women’s race, all predictions went out the window from the moment South Africa marathon record holder Gert Thys set a blistering pace from the start gun.

In a highly entertaining prerace press conference, Thys had boldly (or should that be ridiculously) suggested the Down Run could be completed in sub five hours.

Considering he was a Comrades novice and the current record sits around five hours 20 minutes, it was rather a silly thing to do.

In fact, so was the move by Stephen Muzhingi’s team to have the words “4 x Comrades winner” prematurely splashed across both sides of their sponsored car.

Perhaps, it was just a case of playing mind games or overconfidence from the two, but neither of their races turned out the way they would have hoped, with Muzhingi finishing sixth and Thys having to bail out after his blood-sugar level dropped too low.

However, Thys certainly inspired plenty of excitement as he went through halfway on track to set a record time, but credit really must go to Ludwick Mamabolo, who refused to be thrown off his race plan by any other competitor’s claims or pace-setting.

At just 35-years-of-age and with only three Comrades Marathons under the belt, the Pietermaritzburg-based runner undoubtedly has the potential to add many more titles to his name.

As a full-time athlete and part-time student, you realise just how much someone such as Mamabolo has had to sacrifice in order to prepare himself to win Comrades.

Second-placed Bongumusa Mthembu also highlighted just how an event like Comrades caters for people from all walks of life: “Growing up in a rural area, we were not exposed to this kind of sport. But we had to walk long distances every day to the shops or school and it makes you strong. Once you understand what you can do, you are prepared for anything.”

In addition there were numerous examples of competitors running for good causes, such as Team Unogwaja, who once again completed their inspirational achievement for charitable fundraising.

The Unogwaja Challenge repeats the feat of Comrades legend Phil Masterton-Smith, who cycled from Cape Town to Pietermaritzburg in 1933 because he could not afford the train fare, and then went on to become the youngest person ever to win the race at the age of 19.

Then there was the likes of Barry Holland and Louis Massyn completing their 40th Comrades, as well as Fordyce and South Africa running legend Zola Budd finishing the race hand in hand.

In fact, a full list of memorable moments would be virtually unending, but all in all, there’s really just nothing quite like the Comrades.