HISTORY
RACE RESULTS
Date | Monday, 17 June |
Weather | Cool at start with thin cloud layer. A few drops of rain shortly after the start. Chilly breeze for most of the morning. Otherwise cool to mild all day. |
Temperature – Min/ Max: |
|
PMB | 2/20 |
DBN | 9/22 |
Start Venue/Time | Durban Post Office, West Street / 6:00 |
Finish Venue | Jan Smuts Stadium |
Time Limit | 11 Hours |
Official Distance | 86.700 km |
Winner’s Average Speed: |
|
Men | 15.786 km/hr (3m 48s /km) |
Women | 13.932 km/hr (4m 18s /km) |
Entries | 13552 |
Starters | 13041 |
Finishers – Total | 11262 |
Men | 10030 |
Women | 1232 |
Medals – Gold | 15 |
Silver | 903 |
Bronze | 10344 |
% Finishers / Starters | 86.4 |
THE MENS RACE
Entries from a host of foreign-based runners, all ultra distance specialists, indicated that the local stars were going to have to be at the top of their game if they were to fight off the foreign threat.
Russians, Alexei Volgin and Konstantin Santalov were back. The international contingent included another Russian, Mikhail Kokorev, Valmir Nunes, the Brazilian holder of the world 100-kilometre championship, Dmitri Grishin from the Ukraine, Tom Johnson of the USA, Australian Don Wallace, and Chris Parkes from England.
Parkes went off like a startled hare and was joint leader, with Stemmer Lekoto, as they went over the top of Cowie’s Hill and through Pinetown. On the assault of the mighty Field’s Hill, Parkes accelerated as if he were participating in a 1500 metre track race: not a 90-kilometre ultra marathon. He held a big lead and passed the halfway mark in 2h 38m 35s; a time that projected to around 5h 15m for the full distance. The pundits merely shook their heads and waited for his demise.
They were correct.
Following Parkes through Drummond were Lekoto (2h 44m 31s) and Walter Nkosi (2h 45m 23s), but both fell away rapidly soon after. Then followed the group consisting of Volgin, Bester, Mattheus and the novice, Grishin.
Parkes was the first to crest Inchanga, but it was already clear that his race was over. Within 3 kilometres, he was no longer the leader. He had nothing left as the Bester quartet flew past. Grishin appeared to be the most comfortable in this group, looking very strong on the hills and, with Ashburton and Polly Shortt’s looming, it seemed that he might pose severe problems for those around him. On the long downhill to Mpusheni, Volgin fell back and apparently out of contention. Bester and Mattheus, working together, were successful in shaking Grishin off and opened a small gap.
Then Grishin demonstrated his strength as a climber. On Little Polly’s, the pull up to Ashburton, he went past both.
How would he handle the big one; Polly Shortt’s itself? The answer was emphatic; it never bothered him at all and, once over the top, he cruised into the city, breaking the 5h 30m barrier in the process.
It was, nevertheless, a thrilling battle. Bester came back strongly to finish just over a minute behind the winner. With Volgin also putting in a determined surge for the line, less than 3 minutes separated the first three at the finish.
Will there ever be another race comparable to the 1996 Comrades? Thirty-two men dipped below 6 hours… and another 4 clocked in within a further 60 seconds.
RESULT
1st | Dmitri Grishin | Russia | 5h 29m 33s |
2nd | Nick Bester | South Africa | 5h 30m 48s |
3rd | Alexei Volgin | Russia | 5h 32m 21s |
4th | Charl Mattheus | South Africa | 5h 34m 56s |
5th | Shaun Meiklejohn | South Africa | 5h 39m 20s |
6th | Gary Turner | South Africa | 5h 40m 52s |
7th | Tom Johnson | USA | 5h 41m 57s |
8th | Mikhail Kokorev | Russia | 5h 42m 10s |
9th | Moses Lebakeng | South Africa | 5h 43m 27s |
10th | Donovan Wright | South Africa | 5h 45m 55s |
VETERANS (AGE 40 – 49)
1st | Markus Engeler (41) | Switzerland | 5h 59m 01s |
2nd | Boysie van Staden (41) | South Africa | 6h 03m 02s |
3rd | Johan Ebersohn (44) | South Africa | 6h 09m 20s |
MASTERS (AGE 50 - 59)
1st | Moses Kunene (54) | South Africa |
7h 00m 12s |
2nd | Jacinto De Faria (51) | South Africa | 7h 06m 59s |
3rd | Arthur Brindley (50) | South Africa | 7h 16m 54s |
GRANDMASTERS (AGE 60 +)
1st | Carel van Wyk (60) | South Africa |
7h 06m 41s New Best Time Up |
2nd | Benjamin Mamabolo (62) | South Africa | 7h 57m 33s |
3rd | Caspar Greeff (61) | South Africa | 8h 07m 16s |
THE WOMENS RACE
Ann Trason was back again; this time in perfect health. After her disappointment in 1995, when a stomach bug destroyed her hopes when poised to threaten Frith van der Merwe’s Down Record, she was determined to make amends.
Englishwoman, Caroline Hunter-Rowe, a former world 100-kilometre champion was expected to produce fierce competition, in the closing stages, when the real race began. Home favourite, Frith van der Merwe, led the South African contingent but she was considered a few years past her peak. Nearly all the regular Gold Medallists were at the start in Durban. It promised to be one of the great women’s races.
It wasn’t. From the outset, it was a rout. Trason was a class apart. She led from the start and simply ran further away from her opposition as the race progressed. En route to an emphatic victory, she set a new Best Time for the first half of the race, reaching Drummond in 3h 03m. Passing Drummond in 3h 8m, Maria Bak was a further 5 minutes ahead of 3rd placed Jowaine Parrott.
Over the testing second half of the course, Trason showed no signs of weakness. Spectators reasoned that, never having seen Polly Shortt’s before, the monster would catch her out. They were wrong again. She took it in her stride; never revealing the slightest evidence of faltering.
Racing down to the finish in Jan Smuts Stadium, a new Best Time was a foregone conclusion. She crossed the line in 6h 13m 23s, slashing more that 19-and-a-half minutes off van der Merwe’s record.
The overall standard of the race was such that 2nd placed Bak was also inside the previous mark and, on top of that, seven women went under 7 hours. In all, 23 women beat 7h 30m to earn Silver Medals, yet not too many years before, someone said that a woman will “never run 90 kays in under seven-and-a-half hours”.
RESULT
1st | Ann Trason * | USA |
6h 13m 23s New Best Time Up |
2nd | Maria Bak | Germany | 6h 24m 08s |
3rd | Valentina Shatyayeva | Russia | 6h 30m 33s |
4th | Jowaine Parrott | South Africa | 6h 55m 19s |
5th | Berna Daly | South Africa | 6h 56m 33s |
6th | Carolyn Hunter-Rowe | England | 6h 57m 59s |
7th | Valentina Liakhova | Russia | 6h 59m 44s |
8th | Sanet Beukes | South Africa | 7h 05m 57s |
9th | Reneé Scott | South Africa | 7h 07m 26s |
10th | Nurziya Bagmanova | Russia | 7h 09m 06s |
* First Sub-6:15 Up Run
VETERANS (AGE 40 – 49)
1st | Sanet Beukes (40) | South Africa | 7h 05m 57s |
2nd | Nancy Will (44) | South Africa | 7h 12m 34s |
3rd | Frances van Blerk (41) | South Africa | 7h 21m 14s |
MASTERS (AGE 50 - 59)
1st | Debbie Goosen (54) | Namibia |
8h 17m 42s New Best Time Up |
2nd | Yvonne Lariviere (50) | South Africa | 8h 33m 20s |
3rd | Ros Young (52) | England | 9h 17m 41s |
GRANDMASTERS (AGE 60 +)
1st | Hazel Colborne (60) | South Africa |
10h 23m 38 New Best Time Up |