Women to watch in Comrades Marathon

The wait for the Comrades Marathon is almost over as the cream of the crop in the ultra-marathon will line up the streets of Pietermaritzburg on Sunday. 

The starter™s gun will go off outside the Pietermaritzburg City Hall at 5:30am to get the 90km Down Run from Maritzburg to Durban underway. 

The last race was in 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with defending champion Gerda Steyn having opted to run the New York Marathon rather than defend her crown.

But there are still a number of big names that confirmed their participation in the eagerly anticipated return of the Ultimate Human Race. 

Charne Bosman 

Bosman (46) is an experienced ultra-runner and is capable of crossing the finish line first. The Murray & Roberts veteran runner won her maiden title in 2016 in the colours of the Nedbank Running Club. 

Bosman will line up for the Comrades Marathon for the eighth time. She finished fifth in her debut race in 2013 and secured a second-place finish in 2015, before going all the way in 2016.

In 2017, Bosman finished in third place and managed a fifth-place finish in the 2018 edition. In the last race in 2019, Bosman won a gold medal when she secured eighth place in 6:49:39 seconds. 

Ann Ashworth 

In 2018, Ashworth won her maiden Comrades Marathon title in the Down Run. She started her running with club Massmart, leading a group of young runners in the ultra-marathon. 

Since her big win in 2018, Ashworth has been a consistent top-10 performer, with 2 hours 35 mins being her personal best in a marathon.

Ashworth finished fourth in the Comrades in 2019 in 6:27:15 after her training was disrupted by injury a few weeks before the race.

Camille Herron 

Herron is back after winning the Comrades Marathon in 2017. The American ultra-marathon runner is keen to add to her Down Run title after recently winning the Jackpot Ultra Running Festival 100 mile, which doubled as a warm-up for the Comrades.

She also won the Strolling Jim 40-mile race in May and is in top condition and ready to pull off another upset against the local favourites. 

When she won in 2017, Herron stopped a few meters short, thinking she had won, but got pushed to go on and finish the race by local supporters, who took a liking to her.

Adele Broodryk

Broodryk is a first-time runner in the race and comes in for her debut on the back of a largely successful year. She won the 50km Om Die Dam ultra-marathon in June in 3:28:48 seconds.

The 31-year-old made a big statement with her win in the North West province and, although a novice, she said she had prepared well and was ready to take on her biggest challenge yet.

Broodryk secured a sixth-place finish at the Two Oceans 56km race in 3:47:23 in April, which was her first ultra-marathon.

Makhosi Mhlongo 

Believe it or not, Mhlongo will run in her debut Comrades Marathon. She has doubled her efforts on the training ground and wants to finish in the top 10 to inspire black women. 

She earned a ninth-place finish in the Nedbank Runifield Breaking Barriers 50km ultra-marathon in March. The 40-year-old trained in Dullstroom, a small town outside Mpumalanga, to prepare for the race.

By Charles Baloyi