Klerksdorp Record, Klerksdorp - Klerksdorp Marathon Club hosted its athletes who will represent the city at this year’s Comrades Marathon with a special dinner and motivation talk by last year’s runner-up, Adele Broodryk.
Adele is a senior lecturer at the NWU in Potchefstroom and has a Master’s degree in Sport Science. Currently she is busy with research on nutrition and sleep as recovery in ultra endurance athletes.
This year’s Comrades will be held on Sunday June 8 and it will be the 98th edition of this iconic ultra marathon.
Anton Schoeman or Mr Comrades as he is known locally will be competing in his 25th Comrades while his brother, Jacques, is joining him this year in his own remarkable 22nd race. Jacques will be running with his son in his first Comrades.
Ingrid Murray will be receiving her double green number which means she is competing in her 20th Comrades. Another special mention goes to Festi Mokgabisi, who is competing in his 17th race and Lourens de Beer in his 16th Comrades. The club is extremely proud of every one of their athletes who sacrificed early cold mornings to get ready for this ultimate human race.
A very special mention has to go out to the 16 novices who are bravely taking on the route from Durban to Pietermaritzburg for the first time ever. They are Andre Nel, Tshepo Samuel Seheri, Hanmarie Kriel, Edwin Schoeman (Jacques Schoeman’s son), Raphepheng Motepe, Kristiaan Vermaak, Owageng Pelesa, Annelindie Potgieter, Juliana Geldenhuys, Poulina Mokobi, William Manana, Letlhogonolo Khaba, Sibulelo Brandon Ndaka, Johan Celliers and Lemogang Moabi.
This edition of the race will have two significant changes.
This year’s finish has been moved from the traditional Kingsmead cricket stadium to a street finish outside Durban’s Peoples Park, which will hopefully alleviate some congestion of athletes who finished the race and wish to get home after a long day of running.
Also for the first time there will be two starting batches in the morning which simply means that the field will be split into two batches that will start 15 minutes apart.
Once again, a change coming from organisers to ensure runners’ safety and also trying to make the early part of the race less congested.
Because of the new finish line, the race this year will cover 89.98km in total. This will be one of the longer down runs in Comrades history.
