Young gun takes Comrades 2005
Brad Morgan
17 June 2005
The 80th edition of the Comrades Marathon, a "down run" from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, produced a somewhat surprising South African winner of the men's race, and yet another Russian winner of the women's race.
Unheralded Sipho Ngomane of Nelspruit shocked the strong men's field by racing to victory in five hours, 27 minutes and 10 seconds, over two minutes clear of second-placed Oleg Kharitonov. It was the fifth-fastest time in Comrades history.
At just 23 years of age, Ngomane wasn't expected to be such a strong contender over the 89 kilometre distance, which tends to favour older runners. So much for expectations.
Dark horse challenger
Ngomane, who was mentored by former Comrades winner Nick Bester, did send some clear indications before the race that he could be a dark horse challenger for honours, but still wasn't really considered a potential winner. After all, he won silver in his only previous
attempt at the Comrades - in 2003 - when he finished 389th.
But the signs were there. He was second in the South African Marathon Championships in Durban in February, ran a 2:13 time in the Mpumalanga Marathon, and captured second place in the Two Oceans Marathon.
Bester said after the Comrades that he had expected Ngomane to win, but that it had been hard keeping him in check, to stop him from overtraining for the big race.
The Harmony Gold athlete made the decisive break of the race just after the halfway mark at Drummond, pushing up the pace to move away from former winner Andrew Kelehe, with Oleg Kharitonov and three-time champ Vladimir Kotov a little further back.
Kharitonov, though, managed to haul in Kelehe after 79 kilometres, and it eventually finished Ngomane, Kharitonov, Kelehe, Kotov, with 2003 winner Fusi Nhlapo in fifth.
Hat-trick attempt
In the women's race, Elena Nurgalieva was chasing her third victory
on the trot, but she struck disaster early on. After about 10 kilometres, the former cross country skier began experiencing cramping in a calf muscle. Despite this, in an incredible display of courage and determination, she held on to finish the race in a very creditable third place.
However, the day belonged to former world 100 kilometre champion Tatiana Zhirkova. She won in the third-fastest time ever by a woman, 5:58:50, coming home in a brilliant twenty-third place overall. Previously, only Frith van der Merwe and Ann Trason had broken the six-hour barrier.
The decisive break came on Cowie's Hill as Zhirkova broke the challenge of the Nurgalieva twins, with Elena struggling with her calf problem.
Oleysa Nurgalieva took second spot, nearly 12 minutes in arrears, with her sister Elena just over a minute-and-a-half back.
South Africa's best finisher was Farwa Mentoor, who followed up her third place in 2004 with fourth place this time around.
Marina
Bychkova completed the top five, giving Russia four of the top five finishers. In fact, they had seven runners in the top 10; South Africa had the other three.
The last runner over the finish line before the gun was fired to signal the 12-hour cutoff was Schalk Grobler of the Irene club. He did just enough to earn his fourth Comrades medal.
Some facts and figures
About 14 000 runners, including 2 356 women, 469 foreign athletes and 2 578 first-time runners, took part in the 80th running of the Comrades Marathon - up by 16% over last year's total entry figure of 12 059.
A total of 11 701 runners completed the race. 9 701 were men, while exactly 2 000 women finished.
This year's entries included a 26% increase in the number of women runners (2 356 as opposed to 1 863 last year), a 26% increase in the number of foreigners (469 as opposed to 389 last year), and a 29% increase in the number of novices (2 578 as opposed to 1 959 last
year.
Athletes from 38 countries participated, the largest contingents being from Zimbabwe (75), the United Kingdom (54) and Australia (50).
The largest club entry remained that of Rand Athletic Club with 401 entrants, followed by Irene with 226 and Chatsworth with 225.
The oldest competitor was 80-year-old Billy Mattig of Phambile AC, while the oldest woman runner was 70-year-old Mitsuko Ozaki from Japan.
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