Durban - Rustenberg athlete, David Gatebe, became an instant millionaire and upstaged his training partner and race favourite, Gift Kelehe, with a record-breaking victory at the 91st Comrades Marathon yesterday, handing out South African rival, Ludwick Mamabolo, a telling defeat.
Strong favourite in the women’s competition, Caroline Wöstmann, made a brave attempt on Frith van der Merwe’s 5 hr 54 min record before cramps turned her dream into a nightmare, enabling her training partner, Charne Bosman, to snatch victory in the final stages.
2013 Two Oceans winner, Gatebe, running for new club Tom Tom, underlined his class as an ultra-marathon athlete by adding a Comrades Marathon victory to his City to City and Two Oceans Marathon wins. While Gatebe had been tipped for a gold medal, few would have believed he would be on the podium, while no-one had given him a chance of improving Russian Leonid Shvetsov’s 5:20:49 “down” record.
“When I smelt the sea with 10km to go and I saw the time, I knew nobody would catch me and thought I would go for the record,” Gatebe said. “My coach yelled at me that I could beat the Russian’s record and that seemed a good thing to do.”
Such was Gatebe’s pace over the final 10km that Shvetsov’s mark never stood a chance, with Gatebe making full use of the perfect running conditions, and sweeping home to rapturous applause 2 min 30 sec faster in a new “down” record time of 5 hr 18 min 19 sec.
The R400 000 record incentive doubled his first prize, and adding in his first South African prize of R190 000, a bonus R100 000 from the Ministry of Sport and a hot spot prize of R20 000, Gatebe walked away with a total purse of R1.1 million – the biggest ever in South African athletics history.
Gatebe had been training with Kelehe for the Comrades, two months prior to the race, at an altitude camp in Dullstroom. “They’re like twins,” his coach and manager, John Hamlett, had commented last week. “They have done identical training and have similar builds. I’m expecting good results from both of them.”
But while 2015 winner Kelehe had been expected to be on the podium, Gatebe, as was the case with his Two Oceans win, enjoyed relative anonymity but came through when it counted, racing clear of Mamabolo in the final third of the race.
A feature of the men’s race was the disappearance into obscurity of the half-way leaders. Zimbabwean Bernard Dandardzi led at Drummond in 2:42:16, followed 34 seconds later by five athletes, including three times Two Oceans winner, Marko Mambo, SA marathon record holder Gert Thys, this year’s Two Oceans champion Mike Fokoroni, leading veteran Charles Tjiane, and another Zimbabwean Moses Njodzi (2:42:50).
The race was a triumph for South African athletes, with only Fokoroni (sole survivor of the early lead pack) in fourth and the US’s Max King in eighth, the only international athletes to win gold medals.
While the men’s race was virtually over with 10km to run, the women’s competition proved a thriller, with Wöstmann setting an early pace she felt could take her to a sub 6 hour time and potentially the record.
Wöstmann was running comfortably and by half way (3:07:50) was already five minutes clear of closest rival, Bosman. “When I heard the split at half way, I thought I was running for second,” admitted Bosman.
18km from the finish, Wöstmann had opened her lead to 13 minutes on Bosman, with Swede Kajsa Berg having overtaken American star, Colleen de Reuck, to move into third, nine minutes behind Bosman.
The race appeared all over but Wöstmann was in agony, as her leg muscles started to cramp. Walking with increased frequency, Wöstmann could not respond as Bosman charged past and into the lead less than 2km from the finish to win by almost five minutes in 6:25:55.
Wöstmann gave no excuses, not even being hit by a falling motorbike. “Charne deserved to win – she ran a great race. At one stage I thought I would be coming in with the 12 hour bus, so was pleased I was able to hold on for second. At 10km I stopped abruptly with cramps and one of the lead motorbikes brushed against me as it fell. But it did not hurt me or slow me – no excuses today!”
Kerry-Ann Marshal was the sole Cape Town athlete to win gold, following a superb sixth place in 6:48:51, one place ahead of De Reuck. - Cape Times