A TACTICAL masterclass is what South African Comrades Marathon runner Gerda Steyn produced in landing her fourth title on Sunday.
Even when Elizabeth Mukoloma pulled away at a blistering pace from her in the early stages, Steyn kept her composure, and once she reclaimed the lead, she held that position all the way to the ‘down run’ finish line at the People’s Park in Durban.
The result confirmed Steyn’s status as the dominant force in ultra marathon running in South African with her third consecutive title, her maiden win came in 2019.
She crossed the line in five hours, 51 and 19 seconds (5:51:10).
While the latter stages of the race became somewhat of a grind for her. Steyn did seem to have her struggles but she managed her fatigue once again.
Alexandra Morozova finished in second (5:55:56) and provided a serious challenge, but did not have the legs to catch Steyn ultimately.
Steyn started at a steady pace, and was content to let Elizabeth Mukoloma lead the way in the early on.
Earlier, in a first for the Comrades Marathon, the elites went off 15 minutes ahead of the rest of the field in what was an attempt to alleviate some of the congestion of runners at the start.
Just over the two hour two-hour minute mark, Elizabeth Mukoloma had opened up a major gap over Steyn with her rapid pace. If she had been able to maintain that pace it would have smashed the down run record, therefore it was just a matter of time before she would be caught and passed.
At the 2h42 mark, Steyn finally caught Mukoloma as she took the lead in emphatic style on the descent down to Drummond on a steep downhill. The only thing Mukoloma could do was watch as Steyn quickly became a tiny figure in the distance.
Further back, Steyn’s Hollywood club teammate Irvette van Zyl had worked her way into third place at the halfway mark.
By the three-hour mark, Steyn had already opened a 200m gap on second place and 500m over third.
The 2022 winner Alexandra Morozova passed Mukoloma at the 3h07 mark, as she looked to challenge Steyn, although with the gap already big.
@Michael_Sherman
Sport
