Professa Mthethwa of the City of the Mbombela Marathon Club was the first Lowvelder to cross the finish line in the 2023 Comrades Marathon with an incredible sub-six-hour effort.
He was the 50th man to finish and the 38th man in the senior men category. He improved his personal best time by 10 seconds with a time of 05:57:01. In 2018, running in the colours of Nedbank Running Club Gauteng North, he clocked 05:57:11.
Mthethwa is now the proud owner of two Wally Hayward medals and five silver medals.
He was in 40th place overall at Lynfield Park. At the Cato Ridge split he had moved up to 36th place overall.
He passed Drummond and Winston Park in 39th place. He dropped down to 43rd at Pinetown and 51st by the Sherwood split.
Mthethwa’s average pace was a remarkable 04:04 per kilometre.
Bella’s Athletics Club’s Moris Maiga, was the second Lowvelder to finish.
He was the 131st man home and 44th in the men 40 to 49 age category in a personal best time of 06:27:29.
Another Bella’s runner, Sifiso Shange, also set a personal best time and was the third Lowveld athlete to complete the 87.7km race. His time of 06:48:39 earned him 232nd place in the men’s race and 135th place in the senior category.
The first female Lowvelder to finish this year’s Comrades was Thandeka Hlatshwayo of the City of Mbombela Marathon Club.
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She was the 160th woman home and 78th in the senior category with a personal best of 08:33:32.
Hlatshwayo averaged 05:51 per kilometre over the 87.7km.
Her fellow club runner, Salome Shabangu, was the second Lowveld woman to finish, 43 seconds later. Her time of 08:34:15 earned her 165th place overall in the women’s race and 80th place in the senior category.
The third local woman was Sandra Mashaba of Kruger Park Marathon Club. She clocked 08:41:14 for 194th place in the women’s race and 96th in the senior category. She finished 02:33:12 faster than she had done in her debut race last year.
The one man in the race who is a living legend in the Lowveld Comrades fraternity, Calvin Khoza of Legogote Villagers,
won his 28th medal. He finished in 11:04:15. He was 1 699th in the 50 to 59 age category.
Khoza ran his first race in 1990, the year Bruce Fordyce won his ninth and last Comrades Marathon. He achieved his personal best time in 1992 – 07:27:12. He has run 18 of his 28 Comrades Marathons in the red and white of Legogote Villagers.
He has won two silver, three Bill Rowen, 13 bronze, and 10 Vic Clapham medals.
Two Lowvelders earned their green numbers for completing 10 Comrades.
Grant Roode of Long Tom Marathon Club finished in 10:37:07, and Mark Greeff of Nedbank LVCC in 11:49:10.
The last Lowvelder to complete the race was Piet Mokgomogane of the Correctional Services Mpumalanga.
Competing in the 50-59 category, he finished his 11th Comrades in 11:55:19, four minutes and 41 seconds before
the cut-off time.
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