Top Eastern Cape runners seeded to start in the elite spots of the Comrades Marathon are eyeing top medals in the race on Sunday.
The runners will be part of a sizeable army of elite athletes vying for top honours in the race, which starts in Pietermaritzburg and finishes in Durban.
Among them is Hollywood Athletic Club’s Owen Tshibo, who ran his qualifying marathon in 2:27 (two hours 27 minutes).
He said he was ready to run his first Comrades and invited the Butterworth community to watch the race on TV, saying he might be one of the top-placed runners.
“I was running to do a qualifying time for the elite field.
“I am now part of an elite team; I will start with the big guns.
“My secret weapon is just training. I have nothing much up my sleeve. I am so excited about this elite qualification, it’s like I won a race,” Tshibo said.
Thulani Sidziya of Zwelonke Athletics Club, a Willowvale-based outfit named after the late amaXhosa king, Zwelonke Sigcau, said he had qualified for the Comrades to run from wave A, group 1, and was ready for the ultra-marathon.
Sidziya is competing in his back-to-back run, buoyed by the silver medal he got in his debut in 2024, when he finished the race in 7:16:43.
Komani Runners Club’s Sikelela Tulelo, who has two Bill Rowan medals (bronze), will start his silver medal attempt from wave B, group 1.
“I believe in myself. I know my body, I know what it wants.
“Over-training is not good because it can hurt you. I listen to my body and train accordingly,” Tulelo said.
For Nedbank Running Club’s Lulamile Danile, who will also run from wave A, group 1, this will be Comrades number eight and he hopes to improve his time from the 6:17:40 he ran last year that earned him a fifth silver medal, adding to his two Bill Rowan medals.
“I used my personal best marathon time to qualify for the elite field. It has been my dream to run in the elite field. I got in for the first time because of the qualifying time I ran,” Danile said.
He said he had been struggling to break into a sub-six-hour time at the Comrades.
“Running a 2:28 time in this marathon for the Comrades qualifying race made me ponder the meaning of this ahead of Sunday.
“I think it means I will be able to run sub-six hours. My best time for comrades is 6:13, so I think this will get me there,” Danile said.
The Comrades Marathon Association said it allocated runners to start groups and seeding batches based on their qualifying times. — WATCH: We are the Champions
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