Benonian shows true Comrades spirit

Running in a new pair of shoes meant that Benoni Northerns Athletics Club’s Jaun Zotter admittedly did not have the best results of his three Comrades Marathon finishes on Sunday, June 1.

His ankles had swollen completely about 70km into the race and, when he entered the Kingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban, the 12-hour cut-off point was fast approaching.

As the Farrarmere resident slowly made his way to the finish line, he came across a fellow runner whose body was giving up.

A Durban runner, Anver Moola, was already helping up the broken man when Zotter saw this and came to his assistance.

“Because my ankles were so sore and there was virtually no flexibility in them, I was basically hobbling the whole way,” he said.

“I had done well in the first 70km, so was able to hobble all the way to the end.

He explained what was going through his head when he saw the struggling Samuel Mnguni just a few short metres from the end.

“Most people would normally see a guy like that and just run past,” Zotter told the Benoni City Times at his home, a week after the race on Sunday, June 8.

“All that you think in your head is about getting to the finish line.

“I felt sorry for the poor guy.

“You could see that he just wanted to get up and finish the race, but there was something wrong.

“He was dazed and confused and he could just not physically stand up.”

Zotter added that as soon as he and Moola were picking up their fellow runner, his legs just gave way.

“We kind of just held him there and said to him: ‘Hold on, just walk a bit’.

“It was basically like trying to carry a drunk person; his legs were like elastic bands and he was dead weight.

“Eventually we made it over with just over a minute to spare.”

The Northerns runner, whose fiancé Karen Ingram also conquered the marathon, in a time of nine hours, 38 minutes and 27 seconds, said that the hardest part of the race is when you are on the parts of the road where there are no spectators around.

“The spectators keep you motivated, so when they are not there it isn’t fun,” he explained.

Zotter added that he will definitely take on the race again, so that he can better the time he set at this year’s Comrades.

Speaking about the reaction from friends and family, Zotter said he had countless messages on his phone and on Facebook even before he had got back to his hotel room, as they had seen him on the news.

Despite all the reaction, he is modest about what happened at the finish.

“I don’t see it as some amazing achievement, I just helped a poor dude who was struggling,” he said.

The video of the final session of the Comrades Marathon (via SABC News):