Durban - Chatsworth Athletic Club will once again feature in the Comrades with many runners, but gone are the days when the club boasted thousands of runners in this event.
A sea of yellow-and-black shirts usually dominated most races in KZN, but due to the various hazards associated with training in darkness, the numbers have clearly decreased over the recent years.
Barlan Govender was 25 years old when he ran his first Comrades and little did he realise at that time that he would compete in many more races down the years.
In fact, he wanted to run just one Comrades for the sake of it, but when he clocked a remarkable time in 8h57mins as a novice, he decided to continue running. This year, Govender will take part in his 32nd race on the trot and is looking forward to race day.
He already has 18 silver and six Bill Rowan Medals. “I have done all my preparations and I am as ready as can be,” said Govender.
The Chatsworth based club, with its headquarters at the Chatsworth Stadium, will have just 71 participants for this year’s run, including two women. The youngest entrant is Vinolin Raju, 22, while the oldest is Loganathan Govender, aged 69.
Going for green will be Prananathan Reddy, while Kresan Govender, Allan Moodley and Rakash Sathyanand will be going for their 15th medal. Double Green is another milestone achievement and Dhanapal Govender is raring to bag his 20th medal.
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