Marathon runner Elroy Gelant aims to build on memorable season

Though he’s not putting too much pressure on himself to break records, in-form distance runner Elroy Gelant believes he can give one of the longest standing marks in the South African books a shake next year.

Gelant enjoyed the best season of his career this year, winning the national 21km and 42km titles and setting personal bests over the 10km (27:47) and 42km (2:08:56) distances.

He was also the best of the SA team in the marathon at the Olympic Games in Paris last month, finishing 11th in the men’s event.

Closing out his 2024 campaign, the 38-year-old athlete finished second behind Tebello Ramakongoana of Lesotho at the Hollywoodbets Durban 10km race yesterday, clocking 28:07 and crossing the line just one second off the pace in a late sprint.

Despite his success this year, however, Gelant said he was aiming higher, and he hoped to raise the bar even higher in 2025.

“It’s been a good season, but if I compare myself to the top runners in the world, it’s still an average season because I didn’t win a medal at the Olympics,” Gelant said.

“But this is a good foundation for next year. I need to get my marathon time down to 2:05/2:06, then I can say it was a really good season.”

Chasing a fast time

Gelant was hoping to race the 2025 Rotterdam Marathon in the Netherlands, widely recognised as one of the fastest 42km races in the world.

He believed he could run under two hours, six minutes (2:06:00) which would break the SA marathon record of 2:06:33 set by Gert Thys back in 1999.

“I will target a big marathon next year – I’m thinking of doing Rotterdam in April – and by that time I’ll be a little fresher and hungrier to go for a fast time,” Gelant said.

“I’m not really thinking of the national record. This year I had a lot of personal growth, and I’m setting my own targets for myself rather than letting others set targets for me, so it all depends on how my training goes. But I need to aim high.”