The Ultimate Challenge

Four Club athletes headed to South Africa on 8 June for the 98th running of the iconic Comrades Marathon, the one they call ‘The Ultimate Human Race’. First staged in 1921, the essence of the race is to unite and connect people 'through a shared celebration of human perseverance and possibility', over approximately 90km between inland Pietermaritzburg and coastal Durban. The race direction alternates each year, with the Up run starting in Durban and the Down run in Pietermaritzburg. 

This year's Down Run presented Alex Milne with his third assault on this monumental event. In 2023 he finished in fifteenth, last year he was ninth, and this year he came home in an amazing sixth, and fourth in the SM category, out of a record field of 22,677 qualifying entrants, the size of which prompted a split start for the first time.

This 49th Down Run was the most challenging ever, thanks to a new grandstand street finish outside Durban’s People’s Park. So instead of the 87.701km he took on in 2023, 'this year's official distance was 89.98km with a total ascent of about 1200m and descent of 1800m', explains Alex, who as an elite international runner supported by the South African Nedbank Running Group, competed, as last year, in their striking 'Green Dream Team' colours.

Undaunted by the additional distance, Alex says, 'I started less conservatively than previous years and stuck on the back of the main lead which was initially 100-strong. After two hours of running I still had the main group in sight and was in 59th place. This stampede of athletes included many South Africans with previous Comrades experience who were gunning for top 10 places, as well as international ultra-distance specialists who had some of the fastest 100km times ever run'.

At the halfway point Alex had moved up to 33rd but, he says, 'by 55km my legs were really complaining and the leaders put in a surge that I couldn't stay with. Top 10 was looking very unlikely at this point but I kept plugging away and thankfully many of those ahead gradually faded as the temperature crept up to 25 degrees with little shade. I counted down the kilometres and heard from the shouting crowds that I was in 10th place with about 10km to go. Despite feeling on the verge of collapse, I was still moving well and chased down a few more athletes, passing the Down Run record-holder about 400m before crossing the finish line in sixth (in 5:34:03) to receive the red rose (handed out to all top 10 runners) from Caster Semenya, feeling elated and exhausted, and thinking I never want to do that again!.' 

Below: Alex alongside the eventual winner, Tete Dijana, who also won in 2022 and 2023

In his first experience of the race, fellow ultra-specialist Richard McDowell finished in 127th overall and 40th in the M40-49 category in 6:30:59, with Adam May completing the course in 8:31.12 and Donovan Jones in 8:53:52.

Richard's run was all the more remarkable as he suffered a hamstring tendinopathy before the London Marathon, where he had hoped to run the elite qualifying time for the Comrades (sub 2:30). 'I spent about 100 hours in the gym and was only able to run three weeks before London', he says. 'On the day I got to halfway in 1:14 and thought "this is not going to end well", so I trotted in in 2:33, after which the recovery took a lot more time than I expected, and I only got one proper run in before the Comrades'.

'I had been aiming for around six hours', says Richard, 'so arriving in South Africa just six weeks later and still slightly broken, wasn't ideal!  I came through halfway bang on though, but then the heart rate spiked and I ended up doing lots of walking. In the end finishing in 6.5 hours was not a total disaster, and the race was incredible; the crowd support is sensational. I managed to walk back to the hotel, but in the bath I thought I might have to phone for help to get out of it! I still think this is a race that will suit me' he insists, 'so I hope to go back next year for the Up Run – but fit this time!'

Below, l to r, Adam, Donovan and Richard

Back home…

At the 3000m Night at Wimbledon Park on 11 June, there were notable milestones for three young athletes who ran under 9 minutes for the first time: U15 Theo Creed, who clocked 8:51.86, U17 Pancho Panchev (8:52.04) and U20 Jack Hobden (8:53.72). Fastest Club athlete on that night was Charlie Eastaugh who was fourth in the penultimate race in 8:27.43, while the fastest HW woman was once again Ruby Carter, with a PB of 9:34.67.

Below: Theo Creed; photograph by Mark Hookway

And at the SEAA Championships over the weekend of 7/8 June, which returned to a refurbished track at the Crystal Palace after many years, there was a silver medal for Tommaso Crosara in the U15B 300m and bronze medals for Matthew Wehrle in the U17M 400m in 49.48, Isabella Harrison in the U17W 1500m in 4:31.63, and Theo Creed in the U15B 1500m in 4:16.64.