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Regardless of who one speaks to about the prospects of Border runners at the 99th Comrades Marathon on Sunday, the conversation moves directly to the debut of Malixole Kalideni, Border’s top standard marathon and Two Oceans 56km runner in recent times.
A handful of others do get mentioned, but just not with the same expectation and excitement as the man who either wins or challenges strongly up front at most races, regardless of the distance.
Daily Dispatch spoke to Kalideni before his departure for King Shaka Airport, Durban, on Thursday morning.
This being his first Comrades, he is adequately aware that he faces an event like no other he has been subjected to previously. He did, however, watch the down run last year in an attempt to get a feel for the race and feels he learnt more about the atmosphere and competition in the process.
On Sunday the man who runs in the colours of Old Selbornian Road Runners will have a top seeding based on his 8th-placed gold medal at Two Oceans in April, where he ran 3:12:49, but he will be cagey as he ventures off the start line at Durban City Hall, which was erected in 1910, roughly 11 years before the first Comrades Marathon in 1921.
Kalideni will be as captured by the atmosphere as the close to 22,000 other runners starting in three waves on the road to the historic city of Pietermaritzburg.
The singing of Shosholoza, the national anthem Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, the playing of a rendition of Chariots of Fire, and the air of expectation of every athlete, volunteer, spectator and supporter, along with a large media contingent, set the scene for South Africa’s largest ultramarathon and most revered road race of all.
Kalideni has come a long way, and Sunday will be just a stepping stone in the quest to add Comrades success to his pedigree.
We also spoke to Bryan Ranger, on whose farm Kalideni worked in the holidays as a schoolboy, where Ranger says he was particularly good with livestock.
He used to watch Ranger and his wife Andrea running and eventually ran the Cabbage Patch as his first race. The history will continue to build for a man who has a personal best marathon delivered at the epic London Marathon in a time of 2:14:27 and a 2:16:50 at the Cape Town Marathon.
Crowds and quality opposition he is accustomed to; thus, the hills and more hills of Comrades are the learning curve that Sunday will assist with.
“My training went well, and I will go and see what I can do, but I will run my own race and will not push anyone at my first Comrades. Two Oceans I have run six, but this is the first of more than 80km,” he said.
The chairperson of the Border Road Running Commission, Phaphama Malusi, rates Kalideni highly, stating that he is the fastest local athlete, though of course he is a novice to the distance. He also mentions Stanley Masuku and Xolisa Ntombini as prospects.
Sunday will reveal all, and local enthusiasts will be hoping for personal best times and surprise results to celebrate in the aftermath.
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