TUESDAY, 1.30PM:
THE 1998 Comrades Marathon from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, won by Dmitry Grishine in a new record time of five hours, 26 minutes and 25 seconds, was dominated by Russian athletes, with four of the top five men’s runners, and two of the top five women, hailing from Russia.
Grishine, who started the up-run as defending up champion, started the race strongly, running with last year’s champion Charl Mattheus in a group just behind the early pace setters.
Mattheus broke away from Grishine early on, a move which some say came too early. Nick Bester, who was also a strong challenger for the title, struggled, and was always behind Mattheus and Grishine, eventually finishing 17th.
Grishine powered his way to the front, setting an incredible pace. The Russian completely flattened Polly Shorts hill, clocking an unbelievable 3 minutes, 33 seconds on the final uphill kilometer.
From Polly’s onward it was apparent that Grishine was in an excellent position to take Bruce Fordyce’s 1988 up record of 5:27:42.
As Grishine crossed the line, he fell to the ground in exhaustion. Mattheus crossed the line in second position in 5:31:32, followed by Russians Alexei Volgin, Igor Tyupin and Ravil Kashapov.
The women’s race was won by South African veteran Rae Bischoff in a time of 6:38:57. Bischoff fought off the two Russian Valentinas, Liakhova and Shatyayeva, leaving them second and third spot to finish in in times of 6:39:16 seconds and 6:44:13 respectively.
Sanet Beukes crossed the finishing line in fourth position, with Karen Bradford finishing fifth.