Johannesburg - The Russians are going out of their way to put pressure on their main South African rival, Willie Mtolo of Harmony Gold running club, in the buildup to the down Comrades Marathon next Monday.
Pressure from the Russian Mr Price world team stable has been heaped on Mtolo, who gave 45-year-old running machine Vladimir Kotov some anxious moments to eventually finish three minutes down on the Belarussian in last year's up race.
Eduard Takbathullin, the 32-year-old Russian tipped as the "world team's" dark horse for the 89,7 kilometre classic from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, may enter as a novice, but he's been made fully aware of the Willie Mtolo threat in the world's greatest ultra-marathon.
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"Look, this guy (Mtolo) has run 16 marathons," said world team convener Ray de Vries on Monday. "Six of them he ran faster than 2:15 and he has never run slower than 2:21. Can he win? Damn right he can, but so can each and every athlete in our team."
| 'I wouldn't be coming if I did not think I had a chance to win' |
Takbathullin added to the psychological spin against Mtolo. "You know, we Russians don't look at the faces of other people, we look at kilometre boards and watches. After all, these are the only two factors to consider when running a race," he said.
"I cannot make any predictions for Comrades this year because I have never run the race. But I can tell you I wouldn't be coming if I did not think I had a chance to win".
De Vries said that Takbhatullin had two ultra marathons under his belt. "He's run an 80km in Mexico which he ran in 5:25 which might sound a tad slow, but this was run seven days after he ran a 2:19 marathon. He is a previous winner of the Hamburg and Siberian marathons and has a marathon best time of 2:12.
"It is a wide open race this year - probably the most unpredictable ever," said De Vries.
"An added factor making predictions difficult is that athletes prepare themselves much better than they used to. Just take a look at Willie Mtolo. He has gone back to basics - he's taking advice from Tim Noakes.
| 'The South African runners are ready for these so-called Russian bears' |
"The last time he did that, in 1990, he won Two Oceans and then went on to win the New York City Marathon. Undoubtedly he is the man to beat. But if Willie is to win - he will have to fight like a lion to beat the Russian bears."
"I can see that the Russians are trying to psyche Willie out by putting pressure on him," said former Comrades champion Nick Bester, who manages the Harmony team.
"It is very true that this is a wide open race, but the South African runners are ready for these so-called Russian bears. Their teeth won't be as sharp as they make out..."
For starters, 39-year-old Mtolo - who also finished second to Sam Tshabalala in the 1989 down run - and his Harmony clubmates are far from the pressures of pre-Comrades Marathon publicity.
"Our plan was to get the guys fit by end of last year," said Bester. "Then we went into the mountains through March and April at the top of Robber's Pass in Mpumalanga where they slept at 1900m altitude. The running took in very steep up and down hills. It was like boot camp in a way. They even had to walk three kilometres to the gym or the nearest cafe. it toughened their minds up.
"After that half the team went to Britz and Willie went with the other half to Tzaneen where they did speed work in the heat. They were also monitored with blood tests and took in a balanced diet with the proper vitamins."
Bester said that his dark horse in the team was Johannes Maseko who will be racing his third Comrades after finishing 49th and 28th. "He arrived at our squad with a pair of shoes that were worn down to his ankles after two years of training and racing. Now he's in runner's heaven with sponsored Reeboks and kit. I've had him stay with me at my home in Pretoria during his wind-down period. Watch him - he's hungry."
Bester said the Harmony runners - consisting further of Michael Mpotoane (10th on the last down), Joseph Molaba (16th in his first Comrades last and seventh in the Two Oceans this year), Derrick Dimba (27th last year), Albie Geldenhuys (6th last year), Neil Schalkwyk (16th last year), Charles van der Walt (21st in the last down run) and Johannes Oosthuizen (25th in 2001) - would race as a team for most of the route. - Sapa
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