VIDEO: Sunninghill Striders boast 78 finishers at Comrades Marathon

Sunninghill Striders once again turned up in force at this year’s Comrades Marathon.

The running club sent 83 athletes to the up-run in KwaZulu-Natal and saw an impressive 78 runners finish in 12 hours.

There were three silver medallists and 15 runners received their back-to-back medals. The club’s fastest male was Barry Crossan finishing in 7:04:39 and fastest female was Clara Betton in 8:47:10.

Roger Buck completed his 30th Comrades and Margaret Boshoe her 20th.

“I am very happy with the results,” said club chairperson Nestor Espinoza. “We had fast runners who did very well and some slower runners who were cutting it close in time but in the last two hours pushed through before the cut-off.”

Espinoza said the latter group proved even happier after crossing the line, as many of them had not trained long before Comrades and entering the run was a last-minute decision.

“The fast runners are happy but they always want to run better. For the slower runners who perhaps did it for the first time, they are just happy to finish.”

Espinoza said the club had three great grandmasters and its oldest finisher was Julian Murphy at 72. The club’s fastest great grandmaster Peter Rolland, finished in 11:19.

Sunninghill Striders are looking forward to a 5km and 10km run that they will hold on 22 September.

The club does not have a title sponsor for the run yet and Espinoza encouraged any companies interested in sponsoring the run to contact the club.

If there is no title sponsor, the race will be called the Sunninghill Heritage Race.

Details: Sunninghill Striders info@sunninghillstriders.co.za