Rocky Road Runners is sending a whopping 115 runners to this year’s Comrades Marathon.
Come 10 June, the Parkview Running Club’s top athletes will compete for gold medals, especially after a string of successes in marathons and ultra marathons this year.
Many hopes lie in Rofhiwa Mathidi, winner of the Pick n Pay Marathon 2018, third in Om Die Dam Ultramarathon 2018, third in Deloitte Marathon 2018 and silver medalist at last year’s Comrades.
Zongamele Dyubeni is the Rockies Club coach. This is his first Comrades Marathon and he’s hoping for a gold medal. He is the previous winner of Pick n Pay’s Marathon 2017 and the Loskop Marathon.
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Lucas Rantho had a disappointing run at last year’s Comrades and has a score to settle. This up and coming runner wants a gold medal.
Jeffrey Thipana was the first runner home for the Rockies at Comrades last year. The silver medalist is an experienced runner but has never broken the six-hour mark and he is hoping for a big breakthrough.
Julius Mdhluli was also a silver medalist at Comrades in 2016 and 2017.
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Besides the elite runners, the size of the group Rockies is sending to the Comrades makes it one of the biggest entries from central Gauteng.
Thirteen of these runners will be running their first Comrades.
“However, with the tips and training that they assimilated from our club coach, we are confident they will sail through to the finish come race day,” said Rockies vice chairperson, Saul Levin.
“We have three runners going for a permanent green number milestone (their tenth Comrades) in Masoono Nchabeleng, John Peter and Thulani Mlambo.”
Levin also said the club’s Graham Carroll and Zakiel Masha will be in the starting line in pursuit of their triple green number (30).
Maurice Rosen is the club’s most experienced Comrades runner, with 33 Comrades medals.
“All Comrades runners are winners by the mere fact of just participating in the race. A medal is an ultimate bonus.”
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