Harmony Gold team runner Leonid Shvetsov of Russia has set a new mark of five hours, 20 minutes and 49 seconds in winning the 2007 Comrades Marathon down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.
He was first across the line at the Sahara Stadium in Durban on Sunday and lived up to his pre-race prediction that he was ready for anything.
In winning convincingly from Grigory Murzin, also of Russia, he bettered the 21-year-old record of the great Bruce Fordyce, who set a mark of 5:24:07 set in 1986.
Although he runs for Russia, Shvetsov, who came second in 2001 in the down run, now lives in the United States where he is a medical doctor.
Fordyce was one of the first to congratulate Shvetsov. ”My time of 5:24:07 is now a thing of the past,” he said. ”Records come and records go. But titles will always stay.”
In his heyday, Fordyce was Mr Comrades as he won nine times — eight of them in succession on both the up and down runs.
Shvetsov said: ”After finishing second six years ago when I had felt so good physically nearing the finish at the Sahara Stadium in Durban, I had always dreamt of being first home. It was my dream. It was my goal. It was my desire. It was my everything.”
He said that while he had great respect for every other competitor in the race, he had made up his mind to run his own race. ”What a run”, he said. ”I am so very pleased”
The 12 000 runners in the marathon were sent on their way at 6.30am from outside the Pietermaritzburg City Hall to the sounds of a Zulu praise singer and the traditional Chariots of Fire theme music.
Official of the Comrades Marathon Association were confident that there would be no incidents along the 89,3km race from Pietermaritzburg down to Durban at the coast following a cordial meeting with officials of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
The meeting followed media reports that suggested possible interference in the run arising out of the ongoing civil-service strike.
Before the race, an interdenominational church service was held outside the city hall because this year’s race is the first to be run on a Sunday.
Of particular interest this year is the man who finishes 11th — the first runner to miss getting gold-medal status — as he will become the first winner of the Wally Hayward Medal (gold if his time is less than six hours; otherwise silver) that has been struck in memory of probably one of the greatest names in the long history of the race.
The target for the marathon runners is to get home inside 12 hours — by 5.30pm on Sunday — and beat the dreaded pistol shot to the line. — Sapa