With prize money on offer in the Comrades Marathon for the=20 first time this year, foreign runners, especially the=20 Russians, are a big threat to local athletes
ROAD RUNNING: Julian Drew
T HIS year will be one that the Comrades Marathon=20 traditionalists will rue, but just like King Canute they=20 were unable to prevent the tide of progress bringing prize=20 money to one of South Africa’s biggest sporting occasions.
Although Comrades may not exactly be awash with cash, on=20 Saturday as the Comrades Marathon Association takes its=20 first tentative step into the real world, the first prize=20 of R45 000, together with prize money for the top 10=20 finishers, has been enough to convince the world’s best=20 ultra-distance runners to take the race very seriously=20
This is perhaps best illustrated by the group of five=20 Russians who have been brought over under the sponsorship=20 of a clothing company. They are undoubtedly the most=20 talented ultra-distance runners in the world at present but=20 of necessity they have tended to over-race in the past.
Opportunities to earn money from running in Russia are=20 nonexistent and they spend much of their time travelling to=20 earn what they can on the international ultra circuit.=20
Last year’s Comrades winner Valentina Liakhova ran an=20 incredible series of races within the space of 14 days last=20 year. She started with a 100km race in France, followed by=20 a standard marathon in Spain and finished off her two-week=20 sortie with a five-day run in the Sahara.
But all of a sudden these suicidal racing schedules came to=20 a halt. “We were all over-racing until September, but then=20 we heard that Comrades was going to have prize money so we=20 stopped and decided to prepare just for Comrades,” says the=20 ace in the pack Konstantin Santalov.
Last year was the first time foreign athletes made a=20 significant impact on Comrades when they took four of the=20 10 men’s gold medals and all three of the women’s gold=20 medals. That provided a rude awakening for South Africa’s=20 ultra-distance fraternity who in the years of isolation had=20 come to believe that they were the undisputed kings of the=20 ultra world.
In contrast to the big city marathons like New York and=20 London with first prizes of around R200 000 or more, and=20 bonuses for fast times and cars thrown in which can take a=20 winner’s package to over R500 000, the pickings on the=20 ultra circuit are like crumbs from the table and Comrades=20 has now become the the biggest slice in the ultra pie.
Santalov (29) has been a professional runner for one-and-a- half years after leaving his position as lieutenant in the=20 Russian army. He first made his mark in the ultra ranks in=20 1991 after a marathon career which produced a modest best=20 of 2:14;23 in 1987.=20
He was tempted to move up in distance after a properly=20 organised ultra-distance racing circuit first appeared in=20 1987 with the staging of the inaugural world 100km=20 championships. In 1990 the Intercontinental Cup was=20 introduced as a series of nearly 20 races over 100km around=20 the world in which athletes are awarded points for their=20 best two performances and times. A European championships=20 was also introduced in 1992. Santalov won the=20 Intercontinental Cup in 1991 with a maximum possible score=20 of 1 000 points and repeated this feat in 1993 and 1994.=20
However it was his achievements in 1993 which make him a=20 strong contender as the greatest ultra runner of all time.=20 He won the world and European 100km titles together with=20 the Intercontinental Cup and set four of the five fastest=20 100km times of the year in the process.
Two of those, a 6:25;52 in Holland and a 6:23:15 in France,=20 came within two weeks of each other.
According to Ray de Vries, who is looking after the=20 Russians in Durban, Santalov is the most professional=20 athlete he has ever come across. “He never stands in the=20 sun. He always sits down when he can and when he goes to a=20 restaurant he asks for a clean plate and transfers exactly=20 how much he must eat onto it and then leaves the rest,”=20 says De Vries.
“I won’t run against anyone else, just myself, but I think=20 my main rival will be Valmir Nunes. I am not worried about=20 Nick Bester,” says Santalov. Nunes of Brazil ran a fast=20 6:22:13 for 100km in February and Santalov believes he is=20 better on the hills and in the heat. The Russians would be=20 unwise to ignore Bester, though. He is in good shape right=20 now and prefers the down runs.
Alexey Volgin, the other man in the group, is a former race=20 walker and has just started ultra-running. But he has been=20 successful and won the world 100km title last year in Japan=20 in only his second attempt at the distance.
Although Liakhova is the defending women’s champion, it is=20 last year’s runner up who may start as most people’s=20 favourite. Valentina Shatyaeva, like Santalov, turned to=20 full time running last year and it paid immediate dividends=20 with the world 100km title.
“In the past we used to get a lot of help from the=20 government but that has finished now so we have to race a=20 lot. Few people were allowed out of Russia in the past but=20 now everybody is trying to compete abroad,” says Shatyaeva.
The Russians have an extra incentive to do well tomorrow=20 besides the prize money. “We will miss next weekend’s=20 European championships in France so we have been told we=20 must do well in Comrades in order to be considered for the=20 team to the world championships in September,” says=20
That is just another reason why South Africa’s Comrades=20 contenders may just have to settle for second best.