Down run king Tete Dijana came out victorious with Piet Wiersma hot on his heels during the 98th edition of the Comrades Marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on Sunday.
Dijana said he felt like a real winner, and he was indeed, a “down-run real champion”.
He said he could not explain how winning felt.
“I was so excited. Very, very excited and also emotional because I remember what happened last year… I was in the best shape, but the devil came, so I was happy that at least the devil didn’t attack me this year,” Dijana said.
“I’ve been getting pressure from social media saying, ‘don’t let it go again’, they used the word again. So I had to fix everything.”
Dijana said he came prepared. His game plan in the morning was eyeing everyone, checking who was leading, but not underestimating his mates.
On Wiersma closing in on him, Dijana said: “In the last 10 kilometres, I saw he was closing in. Then I accelerated a little bit, and then the gap opened.”
Wiersma, the 2024 champion, said he felt like he was in the best shape of his life and even better than last year.
“I was having a lot of discomfort over those last kilometres. Sometimes I was closing and sometimes Tete was gaining some distance,” Wiersma said.
“He’s the absolute down run king, right now. I’m going to try next year to be the upper king again.”
Third-place Nikolai Volkov said the race went according to his plan. When everyone told him to speed up, he decided not to.
“The first part of the race was based only on my feelings,” Volkov said.
“At one point in time, I was outraced by a big group of 15 people. I decided that I didn’t want to go with them. I was still trying to cooperate with my feelings. In the last 20km, I caught up to 12 guys from this group.”
On the women’s front, Gerda Steyn made it her fourth Comrades Marathon win.
“I set out at not too blistering a pace, a little bit more of a conservative approach. I really wanted to run the race correctly. It worked out well. It got comfortable for most of the way,” Steyn said.
“There was a little bit of a moment where I realised that Alexandra (Morozova) was closing the gap on me quite significantly in the really last stages of the race, which really made me stay on my toes and make sure that I am 100% focused and getting the most out of myself.”
The champion said she had a time in mind, but not a strict one. She planned on getting in under 5 hours and 55 minutes.
She added that it was an honour to give Hollywood Athletics Club a winner this year.
Second place, Morozova said this is her best Comrades result and her best pace.
“Until the 30th kilometre, I kept the pace with Gerda… but after the 30th kilometre, it became clear that it was just a warm-up for Gerda… I decided to let Gerda run her race and to play my game,” Morozova said.
“I’m really glad I held my second place because at one point in time, I thought that the race for me was almost over.
“At one point in the race, I saw how Dominika (Stelmach) started to close the gap, and I was really afraid that she’ll catch me.”
Shelmisth Muriuki claimed third place on her first Comrades Marathon.
“I would like to say that it is through God’s grace because I almost gave up at 50km… because my legs were paining, I had blisters… it is just God,” Muriuki said.
“The race was good. It was amazing.”
