OnSport Reporter
ONE of the most gruelling athletics races in the world takes place on Sunday and a contingent of local runners are set to be among thousands at the start point in Pietermaritzburg.
Twenty five members of Bulawayo’s Fitness First club are leaving the country on Wednesday to take part in the 98th edition of the Comrades Marathon, which will be a down run this year.
Dubbed The Ultimate Human Race, the Comrades is 88km and is run between Pietermaritzburg and Durban in South Africa.
One of the Fitness First members, Fatima Hassin said she will be running her sixth Comrades and the excitement is still like the first time she ran the race.
“It is always exciting and challenging and I am always nervous no matter how many I have run. Each race is never the same,” said the 59 year old fitness enthusiast.
“To first timers I would say if you want to take up the challenge of the Ultimate Human Race you have to be consistent in your training and be realistic in your expectations. It is doable as long as you put in the work,” she said.
Dentist Munashe Murava (39), who will be running the Comrades for the first time, said he hopes to clinch a silver med by completing the race in about 7hrs 30min.
“As a first timer, I’m eagerly looking forward to getting more experience and knowledge on how I can improve my capabilities. I’m also certain that this journey that I took, will make me get connected to people from all corners of the world.
“I’m exhilarated and I feel that this is actually the beginning of my athletic journey,” he said, adding he qualified for the Comrades in a time of 3 hours three minutes at the BTC Marathon in Francistown, Botswana.
Over 22 000 athletes have registered for the race that was last year won by Piet Wiersma from the Netherlands with South African, Gerda Steyn winning the women’s race.
Zimbabwe’s long-distance runner Stephen Muzhingi has won the race thrice clinching it in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
