The event itself presents a race within a race where athletes were not only chasing the first prize of R100 000 up for grabs for the winner, but a hefty R150 000 for a new IAU World record. The times the athletes had targeted were 2:43:38 in the men’s race which belongs to the late Thompson Magawana and 3:07:20 in the ladies’ race belonging to Britain’s Aly Dixon.

With the ladies’ race kicking off first at 07:15, Nedbank RC athletes Gerda Steyn and Irvette Van Zyl who are Tokyo bound for the Olympic Games Marathon were in the race as pace setters, going off at the required pace to break the record. From the get-go a small pack of women slipped in behind them consisting of Nedbank Internationals Dominika Stelmach and Alexandra Morozova with Hollywood Bet’s Nontokozo Mkhize running off the back of the pack.

Consisting of 5 laps of a 10km loop, gaps started forming as early as 15km as Van Zyl and Steyn, scheduled to run to 30km, stuck to the World record schedule. First to drop off was Morozova and by the time it came to 30km and the pacers to step off, only Kenya’s Lillian Chemweno who came from behind was still in contention.

This marked the story of the day as Van Zyl asked race director Nick Bester to stay in the race. “I got to 30km and gave Nick a thumbs up or down if I could continue the race,” said Van Zyl. “He gave me the thumbs up to continue and that’s where I began to mentally prepare to go the whole way.”

Van Zyl was not challenged to the finish as she crossed the line elated not only with a win, but a new IAU World 50km record with a time of 3:04:23. Behind her, Chemweno on her debut ultra-held on for 2^nd, also crossing the line under the former record finishing in 3:05:00. Closing off the podium was Stelmach giving the Nedbank running club a 1-2-3 finish.

The men’s race which started at 07:45 saw a big bunch of athletes together behind pacemakers Adam Lipschitz and Sipho Mbanjwa who meticulously clocked off km splits of 3:15 per km. The halfway mark was reached in 1:41:20, predicting a 2:42:40, just under a minute under the existing world record. Still a big pack remained comprising of former Comrades winners David Gatebe, Bongmusa Mthembu and Edward Mothibi, with a host of East African runners and shorter distance athletes making their debuts.

With Lipschitz and Mbanjawa stepping off at 30km, Nedbank’s Xolisa Tyali took up the front running breaking up the bunch. As they approached the last lap of 10km, the race was down to four with Nedbank running club Kenyan Shadrack Kiptoo showing his prescene up front together with Jonas Makhele and Ntsindiso Mphakati in tow. Sibusisio Kubheka who recently finished 6^th in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality half marathon and making his ultra debut was sitting comfortably at the back of the group.

With 5km to go, the fastest marathon runner in the field from Nedbank running club Ethiopi, Ketema Negasa, joined the leaders who had slowed the pace when it became tactical. On the last turn point to make their way to the finish on Marine Drive, Kiptoo threw in surges would break the pack down to 3 together with Makhele and Negasa, but a huge sprint from Negasa with just 1km to go was te kick they had all been waiting for.

Negasa did not look back as he crossed the line victorious in a new IAU 50km world record time of 2:42:06. Makhele running the race of his life finished in 2^nd with Mphakathi holding on for 3^rd. Such was the class of the field; 6 men ran under the former world record best.