Just because he’s been appointed chair and manager of the new Harmony Gold Athletics Club, doesn’t mean Nick Bester is a spent Comrades Marathon force at 40. At least that’s the way he tells it.
Bester, whose only victory in the KwaZulu-Natal epic came a full decade ago, says he still plans to give the younger members of the newly established club a good run for their money. Whether he’s a serious threat remains to be seen, however.
Since recording runner-up finishes in the 1996 and 1997 races, Bester has failed to add to his nine gold medals in the past three years. There’s no question, however, that Bester is to play a major role in the destiny of the country’s biggest race for the next three years.
The new club, launched this week, was conceived after Vladimir Kotov’s victory last year — the sixth by a foreign runner in eight years — as a vehicle to bring the Comrades title back to this country within three years. ”Some of us decided after last year’s race ‘That’s enough!”’ Bester explained. It’s not an outbreak of rampant xenophobia. There is frustration that the best South Africa has to offer in ultra-distance running has been found wanting in recent years.
Bester has assembled a wealth of experience (Willie Mtolo, Zithulele Sinqe, Mattheus) in the new club, along with great future potential in Donovan Wright, Albé Geldenhuys and Neil Schalkwyk, among others. Add to that a R250 000 incentive from the club sponsor for anyone who wins in its colours and the new venture has every chance of succeeding.
Comrades king Bruce Fordyce summed up the dissatisfaction with the recent lack of a South African winner best: ”It becomes very worrying when you have to have a prize for the first South African runner home. It’s like you’re saying you can’t win your own race.”
