South African athletes triumphed in the Comrades as George Kusche won the ‘up run’ in record time, while Gerda Steyn secured a historic fifth title, breaking her own record, again.
For the first time in 18 years, the men’s Comrades Marathon “up run” record has fallen, and it was South Africa’s very own George Kusche who obliterated it in the race’s 99th edition on 14 June.
After biding his time for much of the race, Kusche produced a tactical masterclass to storm to victory with a time of 5:15:56, smashing Russian Leonid Shvetsov’s 2008 record of 5:24:49 by almost nine minutes.
The Netherlands’ Piet Wiersma finished in second, while Mbuti Mollo of South Africa, the last survivor of the early breakaways, came third.
The entire top five finished inside the previous record, with Japan’s Haruki Okayama, in fifth, coming under the mark by just three seconds.
Attention then turned to road-running queen Gerda Steyn, who retained her Comrades Marathon title for a historic fourth consecutive win and fifth overall.
Steyn conquered the 85.777km route, breaking her “up run” record for the third time, by five minutes.
With this win, Steyn also makes history by becoming just the second woman and seventh runner overall to achieve five wins in the history of the race.
“Honestly, it means the world to me [to have five wins],” said Steyn after the race. “I…