Running through the half way mark in the 2015 Comrades Marathon up run in the lead, Joseph Manyedi, running his first Comrades, was in the lead out on his own but inexperience and a lack of pacing saw him fade in a big way after halfway as he faded to finish 235th in 7:14:40. Fast-forward 4 years however and Manyedi found himself in the lead again, this time though in the closing stages of the Om Die Dam.
Together with teammate and training partner Obed Kopong, Manyedi pulled away after the 48km mark to take victory in 2:55:37. Kopong followed in 2nd 32 seconds back. Former Comrades gold medalist Peter Muthubi rounded off the podium for the Nedbank team with his 2:56:42 for 3rd.
It was a great race for Manyedi who preparing for Comrades, took home R15 000 for his efforts. “I’m happy to win today as it’s my first time winning such a big event like this,” said Manyedi. “Comrades is my major goal for this year and I’m looking for top 10 and nothing else.”
Manyedi owes a lot of his new-found success to his training group and coach, Peter Gaebetse. A former elite Comrades runner himself, Gaebetse was extremely happy with his charge, as well as the fact that runners from his camp finished 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th.
“Joseph is a very strong athlete and you will see a big difference compared to that of when he was leading in 2015,” Gaebetse said. The runners will be taking a rest now before the big comrades camp starts in April. “All the guys are given easy time now but for Manyedi and also Moselakwe Matshailwe who was 5th and also running Comrades, the big training starts on April 14 in the camp. The other guys who were with them in Om Die Dam are still young so they wont go for Comrades but they will be in the camp to help the guys especially with speed.”
With the improvement he has shown and also the proven fact that he runs well on the hills, Manyedi may be the dark horse going into this years Comrades Marathon that takes place on 9 June.
In the accompanying half marathon, it was a 1-2 finish as well for the Nedbank green dream team with David Manja taking the win in 1:05:30, 28 seconds ahead of teammate Phillimon Mathiba. Our development coach for sub marathon athletes, Pio Mpolokeng is doing a superb job for the Nedbank Team in Klerksdorp.
National Manager -Nick Bester said:”We are building a strong new Comrades team and we send some of our new development Comrades runners to Om Die Dam and we were very happy with their performance on the day.We pick our races very selective and none of our top elite Two Oceans runners were competing in Om Die Dam especially our women`s team. Most of them in the likes of Irvette Van Zyl and Gerda Steyn and team mates are currently in training camps doing their preparations to be on top of their game in Cape Town on 20 April 2019.”