HISTORY
RACE RESULTS
Date | Saturday, 31 May |
Weather | Cold at start, warming to mild late morning with clouds mid afternoon. |
Temperature – Min/ Max: |
|
PMB | 4/20 |
DBN | 14/20 |
Start Venue/Time | Pietermaritzburg City Hall / 6:00 |
Finish Venue | Kingsmead Stadium |
Time Limit | 11 Hours |
Official Distance | 89.900 km |
Winner’s Average Speed: |
|
Men | 15.937 km/hr (3m 46s /km) |
Women | 12.316 km/hr (4m 53s /km) |
Entries | 4710 |
Starters | 4208 |
Finishers – Total | 3977 |
Men | 3942 |
Women | 35 |
Medals – Gold | 10 |
Silver | 617 |
Bronze | 3350 |
% Finishers / Starters | 94.5 |
THE MENS RACE
‘Johnny Halberstadt is the one to beat.’
The entire press world was all on the same bandwagon. Every newspaper in the country was echoing each other… and why shouldn’t they? In the past year, he had broken the All-Africa standard marathon record with a 2h 12m 19s on the Durban beachfront and seven weeks before Comrades he won the 56-kilometre Pieter Korkie ultra.
1979 Winner, Piet Vorster, had done nothing since, and Alan Robb had a disappointing run of results that year.
On a cold, bracing morning, leading the avalanche of runners down Polly Shortt’s, was Aaron Gumbi, Elliot Dlamini, Chris Mkhize and Gordon Kruger. On the long 6-kilometre climb to the water tower at Umlaas Road, the only change in the lead positions was that Lawrence Hlope had moved into 3rd place. The ‘big names’ were nowhere to be seen.
Going through Camperdown, Hlope had gone to the front. The lead times were Hlope (1h 33m 10s), Gumbi and Dlamini (1h 33m 35s) and Mkhize (1h 34m 20). Some 700 metres off the pace, Robb, Halberstadt, Geoff Bacon and Vorster went past together in 1h 35m 52s.
Hlope still led from Gumbi and Dlamini at Cato Ridge. Running strongly, 800 metres behind the leader, but with only metres between them, were Robb, Halberstadt, Malcolm Ball and Bacon. Behind them, Deon Holzhauzen was moving into the picture.
The big change came at Harrison Flats. Hlope was tiring and the Robb group had caught the fading Gumbi and Dlamini duo. Hlope climbed Inchanga well enough but Holzhauzen, now in 2nd place was catching him.
He went to the front on the run down to the halfway mark at Drummond where the order was Holzhauzen (2h 45m 16s), Hlope (2h 45m 45s), Bacon (2h 46m 00s), Hoseah Tjale (2h 46m 25s), Robb (2h 46m 27s), Ball and Halberstadt (2h 46m 50s) and Vorster (2h 47m 5s). Bruce Fordyce went through in 19th position in 2h 53m.
Going past Kearsney College, Bacon held a narrow lead over Tjale and Holzhauzen with Robb, Halberstadt and Vorster not too far back. With the pace quickening, Holzhauzen was weakening and Robb went past him in the saddle between Botha’s Hill and Hillcrest. Approaching the centre of the village, Tjale went ahead of Bacon. Robb was a minute behind, and Halberstadt a further 30 seconds adrift. Fordyce had climbed up to 5th place at this stage and looked threatening.
The race was now wide open with 30 bone-jarring, downhill kilometres to the finish. Tjale blazed the trail through Gillitts, leading from Bacon, Halberstadt and Robb. Tjale had built a substantial lead by the time he went through Kloof where he was 1m 14s ahead of Bacon. Robb was next, 3 minutes behind the leader, with Ball in 4th place.
Thriving on the long downhill, Tjale was greeted by a massive crowd in Pinetown where the order was Tjale (4h 13m 20s), Robb (4h 15m 50s), Ball (4h 16m 2s), Joe Claase (4h 18m 17s) and Fordyce (4h 18m 41s). Cowie’s Hill was the downfall of Tjale. He laboured up the hill and at the top, his lead over Robb was down to 1m 52s. Tjale held on gamely but at the exit to Westville, Robb was just 20 metres away. Moments later, Tjale stopped, clutching his cramping thighs allowing Robb to hit the front.
Entering Durban, first Ball and then Fordyce went past the struggling Tjale. At 45th Cutting, the order was Robb (5h 5m 49s), Ball (5h 7m 14s) and Fordyce (5h 8m 16s). Robb never slackened on his way down Berea Road, even though Fordyce opened the throttle and overhauled Ball metres before the entrance to Kindsmead Stadium.
But it was Robb’s day and he earned a deserved 4th victory. Fordyce out-sprinted Ball to take second place.
RESULT
1st | Alan Robb | South Africa | 5h 38m 25s |
2nd | Bruce Foryce | South Africa | 5h 40m 31s |
3rd | Malcolm Ball | South Africa | 5h 40m 45s |
4th | Tim Briscoe | South Africa | 5h 46m 20s |
5th | Tony Abbott | South Africa | 5h 47m 27s |
6th | Hoseah Tjale | South Africa | 5h 50m 12s |
7th | Dave Ryan | South Africa | 5h 52m 46s |
8th | Joe Claase | South Africa | 5h 53m 33s |
9th | Tammy Bilibana | South Africa | 5h 56m 49s |
10th | Ian Emery | South Africa | 5h 57m 42s |
VETERANS (AGE 40 – 49)
1st | Dave Ryan (41) | South Africa | 5h 52m 46s |
2nd | Calie Beneke (43) | South Africa | 6h 04m 00s |
3rd | Henry Spires (40) | South Africa | 6h 19m 00s |
MASTERS (AGE 50 - 59)
1st | Jarrie van Jaarsveld (54) | South Africa |
7h 06m 00s |
2nd | Charlie Chase (52) | South Africa | 7h 07m 00s |
3rd | Roy Wise (51) | South Africa | 7h 08m 00s |
GRANDMASTERS (AGE 60 +)
1st | Doug Horton (65) | South Africa |
8h 26m 50s New Best Time Down |
2nd | Eddie Pritchard (61) | South Africa | 8h 30m 00s |
3rd | Allen Boyce (66) | South Africa | 8h 50m 00s |
THE WOMENS RACE
The Old Guard was gone… it was as if they had evaporated… and a new generation descended on the Comrades scene.
A record field of 48 lined up outside the City Hall. Among them was 1979 winner, Jan Mallen. There was also Gail Ingram who broke the Two Oceans record over Easter, and the speedy Cape Town student Isavel Roche-Kelly. One who, also, could not be overlooked was three-time winner, Lettie van Zyl.
The early leader, as the field left the city, was Cheryl Jorgensen. Two novices, Isavel Roche-Kelly and Ralie Smit, were tucked in close behind. Roche-Kelly moved ahead of Smit on the arduous climb up to the highest point at Umlaas Road. Over the hills through to Drummond, Jorgensen gradually built a slender lead, but Roche-Kelly was never more than a few minutes behind. The two front runners steadily increased the distance between themselves and Smit. Jorgensen led through Hillcrest, Kloof and Pinetown, but on the climb up Cowie’s Hill, Roche-Kelly, slowly, began making inroads into the distance separating her from the leader.
Passing through Westville, Roche-Kelly caught sight of Jorgensen and 2 kilometres further on, 10 kilometres from the finish, she wrested the lead. At that point, it was race over. Jorgensen hung on gamely but the honours went to Roche-Kelly who entered the finish stadium to become the first women earn a Silver Medal with a stunning new Down Record on 7h 18m. Jorgensen followed 4 minutes later, also going under the Silver barrier of 7h 30m.
RESULT
1st | Isavel Roche-Kelly * | South Africa |
7h 18m 00s New Best Time Down |
2nd | Cheryl Jorgensen | South Africa | 7h 22m 00s |
3rd | Ralie Smit | South Africa | 7h 50m 00s |
4th | Gail Ingram | South Africa | 7h 52m 00s |
5th | Joan Clark | South Africa | 8h 04m 00s |
6th | Clara Faure | South Africa | 8h 10m 00s |
7th | Marie-Jean Duyvejonck | South Africa | 8h 39m 00s |
8th | Yvonne Sumner | South Africa | 8h 43m 00s |
9th | Paddy Williams | South Africa | 8h 48m 00s |
10th | Laura Hofer | South Africa | 8h 49m 50s |
* First Sub-8:00 and Sub-7:30 Down Run. Isavel Roche-Kelly was killed in a cycling accident in Northern Ireland during July 1984.
VETERANS (AGE 40 – 49)
1st | Yvonne Sumner (45) | South Africa | 8h 43m 00s |
2nd | Alet Ten Tusscher (45) | South Africa | 8h 55m 00s |
3rd | Lettie van Zyl (47) | South Africa | 9h 20m 00s |
MASTERS (AGE 50 - 59)
1st | Anna Villet (53) | South Africa |
9h 58m 00s New Best Time Down |