At 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 9, within the raucous darkness of Durban, South Africa, greater than 20,000 runners, powered by nerves, adrenaline, and the “Chariots of Hearth” theme tune, crossed the beginning line of the 2024 Comrades Marathon to participate within the oldest and largest ultramarathon on this planet: practically 86 kilometers of highway working all through the hills of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. It was the 97th working of the occasion, which has solely missed 4 editions since World Struggle I veteran Vic Clapham began it in 1921 to commemorate the lives of South African troopers.
The beginning of the 2024 Comrades Marathon in Durban, South Africa. Picture: Comrades Marathon
Two of the runners — Gerda Steyn, of South Africa however who lives within the United Arab Emirates, on the ladies’s aspect and Piet Wiersma of The Netherlands on the boys’s — cemented their names in race lore by taking house wins, and sizable paydays, of their respective races. The race has a large prize purse, with a complete 4,092,000 Rand ($217,000) on the road.
Steyn, the defending champion, broke her personal course file for the Up run course by greater than 9 minutes for her third win at Comrades. She additionally holds the ladies’s course file for the Down run when the race is held in the other way, which she set in 2023.
Wiersma, in the meantime, backed up his spectacular Comrades debut final yr — the place he completed second solely three seconds behind the winner — together with his first win on the race.
The Comrades Marathon famously alternates the course annually, and this yr’s race, which was run in comparatively ultimate circumstances with temperatures starting from the mid-50s to low-70s Fahrenheit, was the forty ninth Up race, which means runners started within the lower-altitude Durban and ended within the higher-altitude Pietermaritzburg. The race featured round 1,000 meters of elevation acquire, with most of it in the course of the first half of the race, when the course runs by means of three of its “Huge 5” hills. The Up run, due to this fact, calls for a sensible, measured racing technique.
Learn on for full race particulars.
The 2024 Comrades Marathon high 3 women and men on the post-race press convention (l-to-r): third man Degefa Yohannese Lafebo, 2nd man Dan Moselakwe, 1st man Piet Wiersma, 1st lady Gerda Steyn, 2nd lady Alexandra Morozova, and third lady Courtney Olsen. Picture: Comrades Marathon
2024 Comrades Marathon Males’s Race
For the race’s first half, Piet Wiersma (The Netherlands) appeared content material to remain conservative and save his power for the again half. A two-man pack of Jobo Khatoane (Lesotho), on the lookout for his first Comrades end, and Aleksei Beresnev (Russia), again for a second time after debuting inside the highest 10 final yr, have been inside a minute of one another at Drummond, across the midway mark, with the following runner greater than 5 minutes again and Wiersma sitting in Tenth, virtually nine-and-a-half minutes off the lead.
However then Wiersma dropped the hammer, rising his tempo to three:37 per kilometer from 3:58 per kilometer to leap into the highest 5 by the Cato Ridge checkpoint at 56.6 kilometers into the race. That seemingly set the tone for giant strikes for the race’s second half, the place Beresnev was nonetheless holding the lead and adopted by Degefa Yohannese Lafebo (Ethiopia). With this race, Lafebo was transferring up in distance following two top-10 finishes on the Two Oceans Marathon, a 50k race.
South Africans Tete Dijana, the two-time defending champion, and Dan Moselakwe, a previous Comrades podium finisher, sat in third and fourth, respectively.
Wiersma continued to run robust and moved into the lead by Umlaas Street, 67.5k, passing Lafebo, and by Mkondeni at 79.1k, he had elevated to just about a minute. Behind him, Beresnev dropped off the tempo, whereas Dijana couldn’t grasp on, both. The pair would end, however exterior the highest 10 this yr.
Moselakwe took benefit of fading runners to maneuver himself into second. Joseph Manyedi (South Africa), in the meantime, methodically moved his method as much as end in fourth, his eighth and greatest Comrades end, whereas Andrew Davies (U.Okay.) jumped from twelfth to fifth over the course of the second half of the race. This was Davies’ first Comrades end.
On the end line, Wiersma would keep away from Moselakwe by 45 seconds and third-place finisher Lafebo by practically three minutes.
Piet Wiersma crossing the road to win the 2024 Comrades Marathon. Picture: Comrades Marathon
2024 Comrades Marathon Males’s Outcomes
- Piet Wiersma (The Netherlands) — 5:25:00
- Dan Moselakwe (South Africa) — 5:25:45
- Degefa Yohannese Lafebo (Ethiopia) — 5:27:48
- Joseph Manyedi (South Africa) — 5:28:33
- Andrew Davies (U.Okay.) — 5:30:46
- Bongmusa Mthembu (South Africa) — 5:34:45
- Elov Olsson (Sweden) — 5:35:24
- Teboho Sello (Lesotho) — 5:36:11
- Alex Milne (U.Okay.) — 5:36:51
- Givemore Madzinganyama (Zimbabwe) — 5:37:09
2024 Comrades Marathon Girls’s Race
Gerda Steyn (South Africa, lives within the United Arab Emirates), who gained the Comrades Marathon in 2023 and 2019 and can also be set to run the Olympic Marathon in Paris, France, later this summer season, was at or close to the entrance of the race from the start. On the 5.5k and Pinetown (18.5k) checkpoints, she sat in a bunch with Carla Molinaro (U.Okay.) and Loveness Madziva (Zimbabwe).
Molinaro was a six-time Comrades finisher together with her greatest efficiency final yr in third place, and Madziva was on the lookout for her first Comrades end after a lot of robust performances across the 50k distance. These three ladies led a decent pack of runners by means of Winston Park (29.6k), with the highest 10 ladies all inside six minutes of the lead.
However then Steyn picked up her tempo by 4 seconds per kilometer to hole Madziva by virtually a minute by Drummond (42.6k), about midway into the race. By then, the Tenth-place runner was greater than 10 minutes again of Steyn.
Steyn’s lead solely elevated over the latter half of the race, however behind her, there was vital motion inside the subject. Alexandra Morozova (Russia), the 2022 champion and a many-time Comrades podium finisher, made a giant transfer between the Umlaas Street (67.5k) and Mkondeni (79.1k) checkpoints, dropping her tempo by practically 10 seconds per kilometer to cross Molinaro and Nobukhosi Tshuma (Zimbabwe) and leap from fourth to second, a place she wouldn’t relinquish. Tshuma was one other runner trying to transfer up in distance after profitable shorter-distance ultrarunning.
Maybe essentially the most dramatic transfer, although, got here from American Courtney Olsen, who methodically made her method into the lead pack all through the race. By Drummond, she was in ninth place earlier than leaping three spots at Umlaas Street. As Pietermaritzburg approached, Olsen jumped three extra spots to complete third. Olsen’s unbelievable debut Comrades follows up on prior top-five finishes on the IAU 50k and 100k World Championships.
Nobody, although, might get near Steyn, who raised her arms in triumph as she broke the tape below a cloudless blue sky and took a small bow, setting a brand new ladies’s Up run file and ending greater than quarter-hour forward of second-place Morozova.
Gerda Steyn after successful the 2024 Comrades Marathon. Picture: Comrades Marathon
2024 Comrades Marathon Girls’s Outcomes
- Gerda Steyn (South Africa, lives within the United Arab Emirates) — 5:49:46
- Alexandra Morozova (Russia) — 6:05:12
- Courtney Olsen (United States) — 6:08:09
- Carla Molinaro (U.Okay.) — 6:12:01
- Nobukhosi Tshuma (Zimbabwe) — 6:12:18
- Antonia Iushina (Russia) — 6:12:28
- Caitriona Jennings (Eire) — 6:13:00
- Jenet Mbhele (South Africa) — 6:16:54
- Dominika Stelmach (Poland) — 6:19:24
- Yuliya Ryzhankova (Russia) — 6:28:22
The 20,000-plus starters of the 2024 Comrades Marathon run into the pre-dawn hours. Picture: Comrades Marathon