Local hero Charl Mattheus is facing a Russian assault at this year’s Comrades Marathon, writes Michael Finch
It was April 7 1996, the day after Russian Dmitry Grishine had almost shocked national marathon champion Zithulele Sinqe at the Two Oceans Marathon.
Sinqe scraped home for victory by five seconds, but it wasn’t Grishine’s second place that impressed Charl Mattheus that day.
After cruising home for a training run in less than four hours, Mattheus was introduced to the tall, sinewy Russian afterwards.
“When he shook my hand he nearly crushed it,” Mattheus quipped. “He’s a strong guy and if he does Comrades he’s going to be difficult to beat.”
Two-and-a-half months later, Mattheus’s words proved prophetic and Grishin won “the Big C” after an absorbing cut-and-thrust battle with Nick Bester, fellow Russian Alexei Volgin and Mattheus.
A year later, it was Mattheus who turned in a lump-in-the-throat performance on the down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, to officially win after being disqualified following his victory in 1992 for unknowingly taking an illegal stimulant.
Grishine battled to an eight-hour finish that day, but a year later, the hunger and motivation returned with a vengeance as the Russian finally broke Bruce Fordyce’s 10- year-old up record.
Grishine’s awe-inspiring victory in 1998 may suggest that there are few tougher and stronger than the Russian, but Mattheus, a close friend of Grishine’s, makes it clear that the down run is a different race.
“There’s no doubt that he’s an awesome uphill runner, but he’s still to prove himself on the down run,” Mattheus says. “I definitely don’t fear him on the down run, and I pride myself on being equally as good on the down run as the up run.”
What seemingly favours Grishine and every one of the other contenders is that Mattheus will line up with little in the way of speed work behind him. Battling with a niggling case of Achilles tendonitis for the past six months, Mattheus has put in long mileage but admits that he is lacking in the speed department.
While many will consider this a ploy to take the pressure off South Africa’s biggest hope, Mattheus concedes that despite a similar injury last year he was still able to finish second.
In order to compensate, Mattheus is using modern technology. To help stimulate the high altitude of his mountain training camp in Colorado – where he has trained for the past six months – Mattheus imported a portable oxygen tent which is able to lower the amount of oxygen in the air and stimulate high-altitude conditions.
In this way, Mattheus’s constantly tanned body (he’s even tanned after six months of snow training) will naturally produce extra oxygen-carrying red blood cells.
Grishine also headed for the hills, in southern Russia, to prepare, and is already talking of adding the down record to his name.
“I want to prove that Fordyce is not a god, and that ordinary athletes like me can also break records,” Grishine said earlier this week.
If Grishine, or anybody else for that matter, manages to break Fordyce’s 1986 down best of 5:24:07, they will need to run at a much faster speed per kilometre than the nine-time legend.
The course is 1 200m longer than when Fordyce ran, which means that instead of Fordyce’s average pace of 0:03:39/km, the 1999 runners will need to run three seconds faster per kilometre.
“A lot will depend on the weather, and maybe a slight tailwind,” Mattheus explains.
Besides Mattheus and Grishine, there are plenty of possible winners – many of them sinewy Russians with long names.
Former race walker and three-time third- placed finisher Alexei Volgin has entered, along with 1998 world and European 100km champion Grigoriy Mourzin, Igor Tyupin (fourth in 1998) and Ravil Kashapov (fifth in 1998). Last year, seven out of the top 12 finishers were Russian.
The local challenge will come from former down-run winner Nick Bester, Mattheus’s training partner, Sarel Ackerman, and former Two Oceans winner Simon Malindi. Former New York Marathon winner and Comrades runner-up Willie Mtolo may have had a long sabbatical since 1989, but he’s a class act with renewed hunger.
Former South African marathon record holder Sinqe continues to battle with injury, but if he is fit, he remains one of the biggest threats outside the established ultra stars.
Among the women, American Ann Trason is about as sure a bet as Lance Klusener in the final overs. After missing last year’s race to concentrate on her 10th straight victory in the Western States 100-miler, Trason will be hoping for back-to-back down-run victories.
With 1997 runner-up Maria Bak banned after testing positive for a steroid, the only competition the temperamental Trason faces will come from the Russian trio of Valentina Shatyayeva, former winner Valentina Liakhova and top marathon runner and Comrades debutante, 38-year-old Firaya Sultanova-Zhdnova.
Former runner-up Helene Joubert is also in great shape and leads the local challenge, while defending champion Rae Bisschoff will rely on her consistency to pick up the pieces.