The organisers of this year’s Comrades marathon are bracing themselves for a repeat of the pacemaking controversy that saw the women’s race at the recent Two Oceans Marathon descend into farce. In Cape Town at the end of March the winner, Natalia Volgina, was guided through every step of the 56km by the former Comrades champion Dmitri Grishin. It was in complete disregard for the rules laid down by the world governing body but the race referee did nothing.
To be honest, the rule that differentiates between legal ”pacemaking” — the tactic, for instance, that sees ”hares” running 50 seconds for the first lap of an 800m race to ensure a fast time — and illegal ”assistance” in an ultra-marathon, when a male partner provides a permanent running companion for an athlete in the women’s race to ensure a consistent, pre-determined pace, is a little vague. But when the ethical boundaries, in what is intended to be an individual pursuit, are stretched as broadly as they were in Cape Town then the rules man should step in.
Both Volgina and Grishin will be running between Durban and Pietermaritzburg on Monday though on this occasion it’s unlikely that Grishin will be at Volgina’s side. Having said that, it’s got nothing to do with a shift in attitudes on the part of local organisers over ”assistance” but rather because on Monday Grishin will have more selfish ambitions. He is an up-run specialist having won on his debut in 1996 and again in 1998. Two years ago he finished third.
But it’s not to say that someone with more modest aspirations will not be prepared to step in and assist Volgina this time. Though it’s her first Comrades she looked very comfortable in Cape Town and the man who manages the affairs of many of the Russian ultra-marathon runners, Sergey Krasnoshchekov, has identified her as one of the favourites.
Cheryl Winn, herself a past winner of the women’s race at Comrades and now the event’s press officer, admits the prospect of ”assistance” in last year’s running of the world’s most prestigious ultra-marathon had alerted organisers to the problem. On that occasion it was rumoured that an out-of-shape Charl Mattheus was planning to run with his wife Debbie, who was a leading contender.
”It’s not something we’ve had a problem with yet at the Comrades but that’s not to say it won’t become one in the future,” Winn says. ”Some men may have been prepared to sacrifice their races to help the women at the Two Oceans because they were using the race more as preparation for the Comrades.”
Winn is another who believes Volgina’s Cape run had broken the rules. She says: ”I didn’t see all of the race but my overall impression was that she was given an unfair advantage.”
But despite the warning signs from 12 months ago, and the blatant transgression in Cape Town, there is little reason to believe the judges will be any more penal should Monday’s race see a repeat performance. Though race organisers accept there is ”assistance” in women’s races in this country, it is a problem no one has yet committed to stamping out. Chet Sainsbury, the Two Oceans race boss, stops short of condemning Volgina’s tactics in his race. He says: ”It’s a difficult one. The year before it was alleged that Gwen van Lingen got assistance as well. In the end the woman still has to cover the distance; she still has to get her own drinks. It’s not meals on wheels.”
As a solution the organisers of both races would do well to turn to the example set in big city international marathons where the problem has been combatted by starting the men’s and women’s races separately. It has become customary for the women’s field at races in Boston, New York and London to start half-an-hour before the rest. Winn agrees it is an option — ”It would be nice to fix a problem before it develops,” she says — but Sainsbury rules it out.