The winner of the Comrades Marathon in 2009 and 2010, Zimbabwean Stephen Muzhingi, is going to be under a lot of pressure in Sunday’s 86th running of the race.
However, with six previous Comrades behind him he has a wealth of experience to fall back on and is in peak condition, mentally and physically.
His main challengers along the 89km route between Durban and Pietermaritzburg could well be Mr Price runners Ludwick Mamabolo and Bongamusa Mthembu, who were second and third respectively to Muzhingi last year, although Mthembu actually finished fourth only to be elevated to third after the disqualification of Sergio Motsoeneng for a doping infringement.
Others in the Mr Price line-up looking for one of the 10 gold medals on offer are Fusi Nhlapo and Leboka Noto.
The Nedbank contingent, coached by former winner Nic Bester, includes Claude Moshiywa, Petros Sosibo and Peter Motapo, and the smaller Toyota team offers Tsotang Maine, Lebohang Mahloane and Peter Muthubi, who were all in the top 10 at the recent Two Oceans Ultra Marathon.
In the women’s race, the Russian twins Elena and Olesya Nurgalieva, who run in the bright red colours of the Mr Price team, are odds-on favourites to dominate for the eighth year running, with it being Olesya’s turn to win the crown.
Between them they have won the race seven times in the eight years since their debut in 2003, losing only to Tatyana Zhirkova in the 2005 down run.
Their Mr Price clubmates, Anna Pichtova and Riana van Niekerk, and Nedbank’s Irina Vishnevskaya will also be at the forefront of the race, but watching out for two dark horses, America’s Kami Semick and the UK’s Lizzy Hawker.
Apart from Van Niekerk, the local runners in the hunt are likely to be Farwa Mentoor (Bonitas), Lindsay van Aswegan (Toyota) and Adinda Kruger and Lesley Train (Nedbank). Lesotho’s Mamorallo Tjoka (Toyota) is also a contender.
Tjoka, who finished third in the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon behind the Nurgalieva twins, has said she is more than ready to challenge all comers for the top place on the podium after her good showing in the Cape.
The Toyota men’s team had three runners in the top 10 at the Two Oceans. They were led by Maine, who came third, just 49 seconds behind the winner, with Mahloane in sixth and Muthubi in ninth.
There is good news and bad news for all those runners who have come to rely on legendary bus pace setter Vlam Pieterse to get them to the finish line in under 12 hours.
Pieterse, known by many of his fans as “Vlam se Bus”, was sidelined with a stress fracture just before the Two Oceans and has not recovered in time to run the Comrades.
But the good news is that Runner’s World has announced a strong team of pace setters led by eight-time medallist Roy Tolfts, who has been Pieterse’s “apprentice” for the past three years.
“Roy is more than capable of doing the job well,” said Pieterse.
“He has run the race with me a few times and will be following my pace chart, and I have every faith in him to do the job well.”
Ultra distance fanatic and five-time Comrades finisher Stuart Wainwright will be running the sub-11 hour bus.
Joining him will be 11-time finisher and regular Comrades pace setter Yusuf Abrahams, whose ability to pace the distance to perfection is well known. He is also a firm believer in “keep it slow on the downhills”.
Graham Bentz, a sports scientist from the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town, will be running the nine-hour bus for the sixth time and is arguably one of the most experienced pace setters.
“After a disappointing race at the Ironman this year I’m very keen to run a nice Comrades and be part of the nine-hour finish. It’s a lovely bus to bring home,” said Bentz.
The pace setters have been ratified by the Comrades Marathon Association, and can be identified by their triangular flags.
The K-Swiss Toyota running club’s squad of 16 professional runners is also hoping to have major success in on Sunday’s marathon, which will set off from the Durban City Hall at 5.30am. - Independent on Saturday