MONDAY, 3.00PM:
SOUTH African Charl Mathus has won the 1997 Comrades Marathon. This year’s race was run downhill from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, and Matheus narrowly missed breaking Bruce Fordyce’s down record time. First Woman home was American favourite Ann Trason, who won last year’s women’s race.
The victory was a special one for Matheus, who has never won a Comrades despite numerous attempts. This time round he travelled to Colorado for altitude training to prepare him for the win he believed he was capable of. While critics have said Matheus is past his prime and does not have what it takes to win, his belief in himslef ruled the day.
Second in the men’s race was fellow South African Nic Bester, who led for much of the second half, before being reeled in and passed by Matheus. First foreigner home was Polish runner Jaroslaw Janicki, who came up from nowhere to take third position. The much-punted foreign threat failed to materialise this year, with favourites such as Russian Dmitri Grishin having a bad race and being unable to keep up with the winning pace.
This year’s race was unusual in that until after the half-way mark no clear leader had yet pulled ahead. Before Bester and Matheus broke free at around the 60km mark, a group of about 20 top runners were bunched in the front, and any one of them could have taken the lead.