Mention the name of Frith van der Merwe and any local ultra-runner worth her salt will likely wax lyrical about how the Benonian’s 1989 record-breaking run in the Comrades Marathon down-run is the greatest performance ever by a female runner in the ultra-marathon’s history.
Van der Merwe obliterated the women’s down run when she broke the tape in 05:54:43, shattering deeply-entrenched beliefs that women could not break the sub-6:00 barrier in the race.
Before then, no woman had achieved a sub-6:00 finish, not even the three-time winner Helen Lucre, or the first woman to earn a Comrades silver medal, the late Isavel Roche-Kelly.
Considering that women could only officially participate in the event in 1975, it was 14 years later that Van der Merwe ran what remains the standout performance by a woman to finish 15th overall. This was much to the disappointment of misogynists like Graham Fraser, who had commented he would quit the race if he were to be passed by a woman.
Fraser quit and came back nine years later in 1998, while Van der Merwe’s record has stood until today.
Although American Ann Trason (05:58:24) and Russian Tatyana Zhirkhova (05:58:50) in the 1997 and 2005 down-runs did break the sub-6:00 ceiling, no woman has come close – not even the Nurgalieva twins, Elena and Olesya, who have 10 Comrades wins between them – to reach Van der Merwe’s milestone.
Worried a foreigner would break the record, Van der Merwe told South Africa’s leading athletics publication, Modern Athlete, in a 2010 interview, she wishes a South African breaks it.
This year, that wish could be granted by Gerda Steyn, who holds the up-run record she broke in 2019, after clocking 05:58:53.
Steyn also broke Van der Merwe’s 1989 Two Oceans Marathon course record last year, when she crossed the line in 03:29:42.
Clement Modisha from Daveyton Hearts, who ran alongside Steyn in 2019, believes the 33-year-old from Free State will get the job done on June 11.
“I’m counting on her. She broke the up-run record. The up-run is 10 minutes slower than the down-run. That is why I am positive she will take it.
“In 2019, she told us about her training and how she started running in the Comrades. She started from humble beginnings. In her first three Comrades Marathons, she didn’t make the podium. She had the desire to be in the top three, which she eventually did in 2018 when she finished second.
“She’s a humble and grounded person who always helps other runners. That is a nice gesture because you don’t expect it from the elite runners. Most of them focus on their own races. Gerda is not like that. I remember I had to stop to tie one of my shoelaces, she dropped her pace so I could catch up.
“She taught me the importance of maintaining my pace. She eventually left us at the halfway mark in Drummond and went on to win.
“She will definitely smash the down-run record this year,” Modisha said.
Also Read: Frith van der Merwe talks Comrades with #LG_KevEd
Also Read: Comrades celebrates 100 years of female participation
