Publications
Partners
Legendary runner and Nedbank Running Club boss Nick Bester believes a South African will triumph again at this year’s Comrades Marathon.
The 1991 Comrades champion has based his prediction on the fact that Bong’musa Mthembu (2014 winner), Claude Moshiywa (2013) and Ludwick Mamabolo (2012) all claimed the Comrades honours in Green Dream Team colours, as Bester’s outfit is known.
The club also has the numerical advantage going into Sunday’s race as they have entered 936 athletes – the highest number of any of the top 20 clubs represented.
There are also hefty cash incentives for Bester’s runners.
In addition to the race’s R350 000 first prize, the club will pay the winner R100 000 – plus R50 000 if it is a South African – and a R60 000 bonus from the team’s kit sponsor, Nike.
“I am positive that Ludwick, Claude and Mthandazo Qhina are in great shape to win the race,” Bester told City Press this week. He also revealed that Mthembu had left the club.
Mthembu (31), Mamabolo (38) and Moshiywa (40) boast strong Comrades credentials having consistently made the top 10 in the past few years.
Qhina (37) made his Comrades debut in 2012 and has commanded a place in the Two Oceans ultramarathon’s top 10 for the past four years.
Last year’s race also saw a shift in power in the female category when Canadian runner Eleanor Greenwood ended the 11-year Eastern European monopoly on the women’s title.
Russia’s Nurgalieva twins, Elena (eight titles) and Olesya (two titles), have been a dominant force since local runner Rae Bisschoff won in 1998.
“I think Caroline [Wöstmann] is a definite top three contender,” said Bester.
Earlier this year, Wöstmann (32) became the first South African woman to win the Two Oceans 56km race in 14 years. The Wits University accounting lecturer was the first local woman home at sixth place in last year’s Comrades.
Other locals to look out for are Charné Bosman, who was fifth at this year’s Two Oceans ultra race, and veteran Zola Budd Pieterse (48) who made the top 10 in the Comrades last year.
. The first South African (man and woman) will each receive R175 000 while R30 000 will go to the best KwaZulu-Natal male and female athlete in the race
