ALBERTON – The 90th Comrades marathon, which will take place on Sunday, May 31, will be 877 metres longer than the race between Durban and Pietermaritzburg two years ago.
The exact total distance this year will be 87, 72 kilometres. The longer distance is due to road works in Josiah Gumede Road in Pinetown, 20km from the starting line. The remainder of the route is exactly the same as two years ago, when Glyn Rynhoud was once again the first Alberton runner to cross the finishing line in six hours and 42 minutes. Gert Bezuidenhout cemented his moment of glory in the Alberton Comrades history record books when he achieved the only other silver medal in seven hours 24 minutes.
Bezuidenhout is back after his absence last year, but a new Alberton champ must be crowned in Rynhoud’s place as he is not participating due to a knee injury.
From 05:30, on Sunday, May 31, Comrades TV viewers can look out for the 40 Alberton entrants who will start the race in the blue and gold colours of Alberton Athletics Club (AAC). The list of Alberton entries includes the total of 32 men and eight women, of which there are six novices and another five runners who will do their first up run. Last year’s first men and women novices, Barbara Luckemeyer and Cobus van Niekerk, are part of the five and some good performances are expected.
Other Alberton runners to look out for are Comrades double green number athletes Andries Venter in his 31st race, Koos Coetzee’s 26th one and also Marius Carstens and Hein Langenhofel, both with 20 medals to their credit. Gavin Pansegrouw,160 km ultra-marathon star, will be going for his green number in his 10th race. The only two A-seeded Alberton runners are Marius Carstens and Craig Cloete, who together with Mike Brandon-Kirby, must be the Alberton favourites to reach the finishing line first in the Alberton race within the bigger race.
With just five days to go to Sunday’s event entrants should now be enjoying a pre-race rest. If they are doing things the Bruce Fordyce way, they will have started the essential carbohydrate fuel-loading diet. Good luck for the final and ultimate stretch of all Alberton runners Comrades programme.
