Eighty-two Boksburg Athletic Club runners complete the Comrades
Boksburg Athletic Club runner Nicholas McCann led from the front in this year’s ‘up’ run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg as he clocked 6:38:22 to claim a silver medal.
Second club runner was Byron Jones, who finished 36 minutes later.
McCann’s performance had more significance in that he almost matched his finishing time of 6:45:15 from last year’s easier ‘down’ run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.
The duo was tipped to star for the club prior the race by BAC chairwoman Amanda Harvey and they delivered, with McCann beating the sub-seven-hour mark.
“Nicholas (McCann) ran an incredible time and finished in the top 100 of the whole race,” she enthused.
“Our athletes performed very well, with five of our members receiving silver medals.
“We had another notable performance by Josiah Makoro, who was the second grand master home in the whole race. He’s 60.”
Quizzed on her spot-on prediction on the club’s two finishers, McCann and Jones, Harvey said: “Incredibly proud of their performance. Their discipline, dedication and training paid off on the day.”
All of Dieter Muller, Werner van der Berg and Wynand Strydom, who were also highly tipped by the club to win silver, proved to be relied upon as they finished in 7:22:06, 7:23:58 and 7:25:55 respectively to complete the top five silver winners.
Muller also achieved his second Green Number and was joined by Theuns Coetzee, while Vincent De Reuck earned his first.
Lindy-Lee Folscher was the first lady over the line for the club in a time of 9:05:00.
Eighty-two of the club’s total 97 entrants for the race completed the race.
Bongmusa Mthembu from South Africa won the race in a time of 5:35:34. It was his second victory.
The 2014 champion finished third last year. He also took silver at the 100km World Championship in Spain last year where he beat Bruce Fordyce’s long-standing record by almost a minute.
Camille Herron from the USA won the ladies title in a time of 6:27:35. – @SabeloBoksburg
