Gerda Steyn has become a living legend of ultra-distance running

It was a spectacular race, with records being shattered across the board, but due to the nature of the changing course, most of the times set at the Comrades Marathon on Sunday can be credited to the route, which was two kilometres shorter than last year.

One performance, however, stood out among the greatest ever produced at the 96th edition of the annual race. Gerda Steyn was phenomenal.

To be fair, Tete Dijana was also superb. successfully retaining his title by holding off a persistent challenge from Dutch athlete Piet Wiersma in one of the closest finishes in the history of the race.

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Had the course been closer to its usual length, however, the men’s record would not have been broken.

The results were excellent all round, but the race distance played into everyone’s favour.

The one athlete who could have produced a historic result, even if the race was longer, was Steyn.

All-time greats

Delivering a well-judged effort, she shattered Frith van der Merwe’s ‘unbreakable’ women’s down run record by nearly 10 minutes. Even if the route was 2km further, she still would have cracked the 34-year-old mark.

And with this result, Steyn cemented her place among SA’s all-time ultra-distance greats.

The 33-year-old Olympic marathon runner, who holds the SA record over the standard 42km distance, is also a four-time winner of the Two Oceans ultra-marathon, having broken the record twice. In addition, she now holds the up and down run records at Comrades.

Van der Merwe was long considered SA’s all-time best female ultra-distance athlete – an icon of the sport who shone in the 1980s – but after breaking all her major records, Steyn looks to have taken the mantle.

Steyn is still relatively young for an ultra-distance runner and she started running socially less than 10 years ago, so she should still have energy left in her sprightly legs.

It’s unclear whether she will return to shorter distance races over the next few years or if she will direct her focus towards ultras.

Either way, as many records as she has already broken, one thing looks near certain for Steyn. Already a living legend of the sport, she’s not slowing down any time soon.