Rumours of drug use surround the top runners for this year’s Comrades marathon
Martin Gillingham
If you can come to terms with the fact that the winner of Saturday’s Comrades marathon might well be a cheat then you’ve every reason to consider an entire Saturday spent glued to the box watching the 90km slog from Maritzburg to Durban a rewarding experience.
Despite a whispering campaign that’s been waged around the race for years, accusations of drug-taking have never, until now, wafted beyond the liniment-filled atmospheres of Durban hotel lobbies on race eve. But now the talk has hit the front pages and is set to follow this year’s champion long after he’s cashed the winner’s cheque.
Had the claim that drug-taking is rife among top contenders particularly the use of erythropoietin (EPO) come from anyone other than Bruce Fordyce, then it would surely have been written off as the machination of some bitter conspiracy theorist. But when its source is the great ultra-distance runner then it’s got to be taken seriously.
In fairness to all concerned that is with the exception of those who live by the needle there seems a genuine commitment to eradicate drugs from the race. But even this is a fight which, to a large extent, is out of the hands of the race organisers. The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) runs the race but has nothing directly to do with the drug-testing procedures. Testing is the responsibility of Athletics South Africa and its anti-doping chief, Chris Hattingh. Like Fordyce, Hattingh believes drug use is widespread. But his hands too are tied. EPO may well be the favourite elixir of endurance athletes around the world but South Africa has yet to refine its test for it.
“Everyone’s talking about it,” says Cheryl Winn, who runs the CMA’s media department. “The sooner we start testing for EPO the better.”
Nineteen years ago, Winn won the women’s race at Comrades. It was a time when, she says, drugs were not even talked about. “In those days we didn’t think that drugs could possibly improve the performance of athletes in such a long race. All I did was drink cups and cups of coffee in the hope that it might give me some sort of boost.”
The campaign for a clean Comrades was supported this week by leading contender Carol Mercer, who finished seventh 12 months ago and hopes to improve on that this time. She believes that until EPO testing is introduced foreign athletes will have a significant advantage.
In a letter to the CMA she writes: “They [some foreigners] come over here doped to the hilt and walk away the richer thanks to drugs like EPO. We know that some of them take it.
“Soon the big sponsors who pay for these drug-infested runners will realise that associating their brand or company with them will only do damage, whereas those who sponsor ‘clean’ athletes will get far more mileage. I love the sport and the race and will compete with the best in the world without any disgrace but the playing fields must be level.”
It’s a sign of the times that the Comrades should be overshadowed by allegations of widespread cheating. Though the starting-line numbers have increased since Winn’s 1982 win, the event continues to be run by much the same amiable bunch of fuddy-duddies who have always run it. Despite the introduction of prize money in recent years and blanket live television coverage the race seems locked firmly in the amateur era.
In a sporting world robbed of its innocence by commercialism, the Comrades is a breath of fresh air.
But, if the likes of Fordyce, Hattingh and Winn are to be believed, then not all the athletes share that same spirit. For them the R125 000 first prize prize money is the same for both the men’s and women’s races is enough to plunge needles into their thighs and play a game that, unless done under qualified medical supervision, can prove fatal.
So who are the likely winners? With the possible exception of former world mile record holder Steve Cram he’s here just to get round the thoroughbred in the field is Mark Plaatjies. There would be no more popular winner than the former world marathon champion, who fled South Africa in the Eighties for the United States.
The champion is more likely, however, to come from eastern Europe. Jaroslaw Janicki of Poland won the last “down” run two years ago and in the virtual absence of Charl Mattheus (he’s been sick since the Two Oceans in April) is the fastest “down” runner in the field.
Of the others, Dmitri Grishine of Russia has won twice before but has never run well in the direction of Durban, while Alexei Volgin who’s finished in the top five on five occasions seems destined never to win.
In the women’s race, Maria Bak, who once spent two years out of the sport following a positive dope test, is the favourite to add to her wins in 1995 and last year. Her biggest threat is the 24-year-old Russian Natalia Volgina, who finished second in the Two Oceans marathon.