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Records broken as South African runners triumph at Comrades 2016

30 May 2016

Almost 22 000 runners took part in the 2016 Comrades Marathon on the 89.2- kilometre downhill run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on 29 May 2016.

South African runners in both the men's and women's races placed first and second. David Gatebe won the race, followed by Ludwick Mamabolo and fellow South African Bongmusa Mthembu placed third.

Female runners Charne Bosman and Caroline Wostmann came in first and second in the women's race, only the second time since 1993 that more than one South African runner placed in the top three. Sweden's Kajsa Berg came in third place.

Winner Gatebe finished his race in 5 hours, 18 minutes and 19 seconds – a new Comrades downhill record and a personal best for Gatebe, who had not run an under-10-hour Comrades before this year's race nor finished in the top 10. His only other high-profile career win was the Two Oceans Marathon in 2013.

In 2007, Russian Leonid Shvetsov set a seemingly unobtainable down-hill record of 5:20:49, which Gatebe, in heroic fashion, smashed by over two minutes.

The 34-year-old winner powered his way from 54th position into the top 10 at the halfway stage. Gatebe took the lead with 44 kilometres to go, leaving the rest of the pack to reach the finish line almost six minutes ahead of Mamabolo. The rest of the top ten included seven South Africans, one Zimbabwean and an American.

Gatebe celebrated the win with an enthusiastic push-up, to the delight of the crowd gathered at the Kingsmead stadium in Durban. At the finish line, he told the SABC how he paced himself during the race: "I told myself not to worry about anyone and just ran on my own near the end."

Records are made to be broken. The amazing David Gatebe pic.twitter.com/K7vpAdfwKl— Team Vitality (@TeamVitalitySA) May 29, 2016

The women's race featured seven South Africans in the top ten, with Bosman and Wostman dominating the field early in the race. The two runners also finished first and second in 2015.

SouthAfrica.info reporter