Green Dream Team Delivers on Every Front

What a weekend it was for Nedbank Running Club! From a historic victory and course record at the Comrades Marathon to outstanding performances at Cross Country League 2 in Cape Town, Green Dream Team athletes proudly represented the club across South Africa.

The 2026 Comrades Marathon will go down as one of the most successful in Nedbank Running Club history. The club celebrated an incredible six men's gold medals and three women's gold medals, while athletes claimed multiple podium finishes and age category honours. The Green Dream Team's depth and consistency were further rewarded with two team prizes, highlighting the strength of the club from front to back.

COMRADES MARATHON 2026

Nedbank Running Club Gauteng North's George Kusche delivered one of the club's greatest-ever performances, winning the 2026 Comrades Marathon in a phenomenal 5:15:56 and setting a new course record in the process.

The Green Dream Team's strength ran deep through the men's field. Piet Wiersma crossed the line in 2nd place (5:19:36), while Alex Milne finished 4th (5:22:29) and Haruki Okayama 5th (5:24:46).

Lloyd Bosman produced a sensational Comrades Marathon debut to finish 7th overall in 5:28:53, crossing the line as the 3rd South African man and first SWD athlete home. Nikolai Volkov followed in 8th place (5:28:59), while Sithembiso Mqhele finished 13th (5:31:33), Olle Meijer 18th (5:34:20) and Pule Sibeko 19th (5:34:29).

On the women's side, Naomi Robinson led the Green Team home in 5th place (6:07:55), followed by Loveness Madziva in 6th (6:09:54) and Dikeledi Majara in 8th (6:12:29). Alena Tatarinova (11th), Jenna Challenor (12th), Maretha Smit (15th) and Jeannie Henderson (20th) rounded out a superb day for the club's women.

In the age categories, Nikolai Volkov topped the M40-49 division, Jenna Challenor claimed silver in the W40-49 category, and Nerida Lubbe struck gold in the W50-59 division.

The club also celebrated success in the team competition, securing two prestigious team prizes, further underlining the strength and depth of the Green Dream Team across both the men's and women's fields.

COMRADES MARATHON 2026: GEORGE KUSCHE ON A RECORD-BREAKING DAY

Following his historic victory and course record performance, George Kusche reflected on a race that unfolded almost exactly as he had hoped.

George revealed that his race strategy involved taking a calculated gamble early on.

"The day went as well as I could have hoped. It's obviously a very gruelling race, but I took a chance to drop the pack relatively early in the race. It was a huge risk - a high-risk, high-reward situation."

While he knew his preparation had put him in a position to attempt such a move, he also understood the challenge that lay ahead.

"Based on the training I've been doing, I knew it was possible, but even knowing that, it was still going to be a stretch."

The bold move paid off, allowing George to build a lead that he would never surrender on his way to victory.

Interestingly, the new course record was not something he was actively tracking during the race.

"I never looked at the time, so I didn't know I was going to break the record."

It was only in the closing kilometres that the possibility became real.

"With about a kilometre or two left, I looked at the bakkie in front of me and worked it out in my head. I realised that even if I slowed down quite a bit, I would still get under the record time."

Despite leading the race, George admitted he never truly felt comfortable until the finish line was behind him.

"I was afraid of being caught the whole time. When I crossed the finish line, that's when I knew I had it. It was a massive relief."

The result capped off a remarkable day for both George and the Green Dream Team, delivering one of the most memorable performances in Nedbank Running Club history.

COMRADES MARATHON 2026: CATCHING UP WITH LLOYD BOSMAN

One of the standout performances of the day came from Lloyd Bosman, whose debut Comrades Marathon exceeded expectations.

Reflecting on his race, Lloyd said:

"The race was hard, but that's what makes it nice. When it's hard, there are challenges. My goal was to finish in the Top 10 and earn a gold medal position."

Speaking about what the achievement means to him, Lloyd admitted:

"It still feels unreal. I'm really happy and proud of myself."

Lloyd also credited his preparation, including a training camp in Dullstroom with Nick Bester.

"Being under someone like Nick Bester is a blessing. I learned a lot from that camp."

Lloyd ended by thanking God for the performance and the Green Team support along the route.

"I can only thank God for this performance. He was with me every step of the way. And a big thank you to the Nedbank team out on the route - you were amazing."

COMRADES MARATHON 2026: NAOMI ROBINSON REFLECTS ON TOP-FIVE FINISH

Reflecting on her race, Naomi revealed that she executed her race plan almost perfectly. Her strategy was to remain patient during the early stages of the race, sitting around tenth position for the first few hours before gradually working her way through the field.

By the final 15km, Naomi had moved herself into 4th place and was on track with her planned race splits. After receiving feedback from National Manager Nick Bester along the route, she decided to put in a surge and attempt to chase down third place and a spot on the podium.

Although the effort took its toll in the closing kilometres and she slipped back to 5th place with approximately 3km remaining, Naomi has no regrets.

"I don't regret putting my efforts into making the top three. I learned a lot in my first Up Run."

Naomi also paid tribute to her training partners and support team who helped prepare her for the challenge.

"I am so grateful to Dominika, Deanné, Loveness and Dikeledi, who I got to train with in Dullstroom in preparation for the event, as well as Nick for his advice on how to tackle the Up Run."

Having now experienced both the Up Run and Down Run, Naomi is already setting her sights on next year's historic 100th Comrades Marathon.

"My ambition is to race right from the start next year and achieve something special for Nedbank in the 100th race."

A top-five finish, first Green Dream Team woman home and a valuable learning experience on the Up Run made it a memorable Comrades Marathon for Naomi Robinson and an exciting platform to build from ahead of the 100th running of The Ultimate Human Race.

FROM THE DESK OF THE NATIONAL MANAGER

Nick Bester reflects on an unforgettable Comrades Marathon

When asked about the club's success at the 2026 Comrades Marathon, Nick Bester said:

"What a day as Manager of Nedbank Running Club National and our Green Dream Team. Supported by Nedbank Sport, Nick B Sport Promotions, NMI, Biogen, Nike, Nike Vision and Thirsti Water, it was another special day for the club.

A huge thank you to our athletes, team managers, assistant coaches, drivers, medical and physio support teams, branding officers, social media personnel, influencers, club committees and managers. Once again, it was an oiled machine operating on all cylinders on fire.

We planned and executed a dominant Comrades Marathon 2026 campaign despite the fact that we started by planning and recruiting a brand-new team. Our goal was to compete for honours across the majority of categories and team competitions on offer, and the athletes delivered.

One of the highlights was seeing our 'babies' win the Elite Team Prize. They are the future race winners. As Mthandeni Nene showed, the future of the Green Dream Team is incredibly bright and there is much more to come.

Words and explanation cannot fully describe the amount of work that happens behind the scenes to make a campaign like this successful.

Well done to Sue-Ellen Forge, Mark Leathers and the rest of the Comrades House team for lifting the standards of what remains the most competitive ultra-distance road race in the world.

Finally, thank you to our sponsors, Nedbank Sport, supporters and everyone who played a role in making this campaign a success - we just did it AGAIN."

Congratulations to Mark Leathers, Comrades Chairperson on his Comrades Finish and for leading from the Top - Mark on the right with George Kushe

Final Results of the 2026 Comrades Marathon

Results and Prizes Confirmed for 2026 Comrades Marathon

The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) is pleased to announce the final results of the 99th edition of the Comrades Marathon, run on Sunday 14 June, and can confirm that both men’s winner George Kusche and women’s winner Gerda Steyn have each walked away with over R2-million in prize money and incentives.

The winners were feted on Monday morning at the exclusive, annual Comrades Marathon Champions Prizegiving Breakfast, hosted by the Southern Sun Elangeni Hotel in Durban, with the final prize-winning results announced shortly thereafter. In attendance were the two winners along with other top performers across the open, team and age categories, CMA sponsors and partners, government dignitaries, road-running officials and the media.

The 2026 Comrades Marathon offered a combined prize purse of over R8.2-million in prize money and incentive bonuses, rewarding the top performing runners well for their race-day efforts. A prize purse of R5,790,400 was on offer across the top 10 positions, individual prizes, age categories, and team prizes for men and women, including prize money for the first South African finisher and top three KwaZulu-Natal athletes. For the first time, the prize money in the 70+ age category extended to second and third places, instead of just the first place in that category.

A further R2,420,000 was on offer for various records or time incentives, taking the total prize monies available to R8,210,400, which represents a 10% increase across all categories on the total prize monies on offer in the 2025 edition of the race.

STANDOUT MEN'S RESULTS
George Kusche won the men’s race in 5:15:56, shattering Leonid Shvetsov’s 18-year-old Up Run Record of 5:24:49 (2008), and he also set a new Best Average Pace record for the Up Run of 3:40.99 per kilometre, bettering the 3:43.75/km set by Vladimir Kotov in 2000. Add in the prize money for being first South African over the line, his prize monies come to R2,322,000.

Second over the line was Dutchman Piet Wiersma, the 2024 winner and defending champion in the Up Run, who finished in 5:19:36. Third home was SA’s Mbuti Mollo, in 5:21:31, and he also claimed the Cell C Hot Spot prize for being first finisher through the Camperdown timing point, as well as the prize for first male novice finisher.

The fourth and fifth finishers, Great Britain’s Alex Milne (5:22:29) and Japan’s Haruki Okayama (5:24:46) also dipped under the previous Up Run best time. Current 50km World Champion Milne continued moving up through the positions, having finished 15th, ninth and sixth in his three previous Comrades Marathons, while former 100km World Champion Okayama claimed a gold medal on debut at the Comrades Marathon.

Sixth place went to 50-mile World Record-holder Charlie Lawrence of the USA, while SA’s Lloyd Bosman took seventh place after passing a cramping Nikolai Volkov just metres from the line. Behind them, Vasilii Korytkin took ninth place and another local athlete, Tebogo Pulusa was 10^th man home. Volkov’s disappointment at having to be content with ninth position may have been slightly tempered by also claiming first place in the 40-49 age category.

Of the four South Africans amongst the top 10 men, Mollo, Bosman and Pulusa all claimed a gold medal in their Comrades Marathon debut runs. Also, of the top10, four were all also gold medallists in 2025 – Wiersma, Volkov, Milne and Korytkin. Meanwhile, in the team competitions, Nedbank Running Club KZN took top honours in the men’s elite category, while the men’s open category was won by Impala Marathon Club NWN, followed by Maxed Elite KZN. The Impala team also claimed the men’s 40-49 team prize.

In terms of the age spectrum, the youngest finisher was 20-year-old Ruan Uys, who clocked 7:35:56, while the trophy for the oldest finisher was once again presented to 84-year-old Johannes Mosehla. In finishing the race in 11:12:26, Mosehla also extended his own record as the oldest finisher in Comrades history. He claimed this record in 2023, aged 81, beating the record set by 80-year-old Wally Hayward in 1989, and has now rewritten the record books four years in a row.

STANDOUT WOMEN'S RESULTS
Gerda Steyn cruised to her third Up Run victory and fifth Comrades Marathon title overall, with an impressive time of 5:44:53. This was well inside her own record for the women’s Up Run of 5:49:46, which she set in 2024. Like Kusche, Steyn also set a new Best Average Pace for the Up Run, with 4:01.24 per kilometre to beat the previous best of 4:04.28/km that she set in 2024. To add to her incredible day, Steyn was also the first woman through the Cell C Hot Spot in Camperdown, and she was part of the Hollywood Athletics Club team that claimed the Women’s Elite Team prize. With these additional prizes, her earnings for the day jumped to R2,388,192.

Second over the line was Zimbabwean Nobukhosi Tshuma, who finished in 5:53:36 and improved greatly on her fifth-place finish in the 2024 edition of the race, having made terrific personal sacrifices to train for this race in Kenya. Third place went to SA’s Irvette van Zyl in 6:02:30, one position better than the fourth place she achieved in her Comrades Marathon debut last year, and she described the Up Run as one of the hardest things she’d ever done.

Fourth was Kenyan Shelmith Muruiki (6:06:38), last year’s third-place finisher, who also took first place in the women’s 40-49 age category, with Great Britain’s Naomi Robinson fifth in 6:07:55, and improving considerably on last year’s 15th place in her Comrades Marathon debut. Another Zimbabwean, Loveness Madziva, was sixth, also improving considerably from the 13th place she recorded in her previous out in the event in 2024, while the USA’s Courtney Olsen took seventh place and added a third consecutive gold medal to her Comrades Marathon haul.

In eighth position, Dikiledi Majara gave Lesotho its first female gold medal in Comrades Marathon history, while ninth place went to a third Sout African in the top 10, Jenet Mbhele, extending her record as the first black South African woman to achieve four gold medals in the Comrades Marathon. Similarly, 10th-placed Carla Molinaro of Great Britain, the current 50km World Champion, extended her Comrades Marathon gold collection to five. The first female novice to finish was another Brit, Stephanie McCall, who crossed the line in 17^th place in 6:52:10.

As mentioned earlier, the Hollywood Athletics Club team took top honours in the women’s elite team category, while the open category was won by Ubora Athletics Club, with Nedbank Running Club CG finishing as runners-up. The same Ubora team also claimed the women’s 40-49 team prize.

The youngest female finisher was 20-year-old Bailey O’Leary (Great Britain), who was home in 10:42:51, while the oldest was a 74-year-old visitor from the USA, Auzanne Koonce, who crossed the line in 10:43:24, less than a minute behind the youngest female finisher.

CONGRATULATIONS EXTENDED
Commenting after the Champions Prizegiving Breakfast, CMA General Manager Alain Dalais congratulated all the 2026 Comrades Marathon award-winners, saying, “It’s an honour to recognise the best of the best in our 99th Comrades Marathon, starting with winners George Kusche and Gerda Steyn. These two superb athletes proved they were the best on the day, winning multiple prizes on offer, and they have been richly rewarded for their world-class performances with over R2-million in prize money each.”

“Here our thanks must go to our sponsor Cell C for their contribution to the increased prize purse for the 2026 race,” continues Dalais. “Besides sponsoring the Cell C Hot Spot and Cell C Average Pace bonus incentives, they contributed a substantial portion of the prize money for the top 10 men and women through the Cell C Top Ups that were added to the prize purse for these positions, and thus helped to incentivise the record-breaking performances that lit up the 2026 race!”

Dalais, concludes, “We take immense pride in celebrating all of our award-winners, from the winners and elite athletes in the top 10, through the top three in each age category and winning teams in both elite and recreational categories, to the youngest and oldest finishers. In particular, we congratulate 84-year-old Johannes Mosehla for extending his own record as the oldest ever finisher of the race, and for once again proving that age is just a number. Most importantly, we thank all of these athletes for contributing to an unforgettable racing spectacle.”

A list of all award-winners appears below. For the full results of the 2026 Comrades Marathon, runners can go to the Comrades Marathon website, click on the Race Info link, then click on the 2026 Results link (https://comrades.com/2026-entry-list).