Comrades Marathon winners Dijana, Steyn clinch third and fourth titles
Tete Dijana won his third Comrades Marathon title in the down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on Sunday.
Image: Sibonelo Ngcobo / Independent Newspapers
Tete Dijana won his third Comrades Marathon title while Gerda Steyn claimed her fourth title in the men's and women's races on Sunday.
Dijana won the down run from Pietermaritzburg in the time of five hours, 25 minutes and 27 seconds in a tense finish in Durban. Steyn crossed the line in five hours, 51 minutes and 19 seconds.
According to IOL Sport, there were some runners who went out to set the pace in the beginning of the race but they ran out of steam quickly and the real contenders then took over. Dijana moved into the lead with 16km left in the marathon.
It came down to the final 8.5km of the down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, in which Dijana running at the front would outlast Wiersma. At that point, Dijana clung to a 44-second lead over Wiersma. With 4km left, the lead was 51 seconds.
Gerda Steyn clinched her fourth Comrades Marathon title on Sunday.
Image: Sibonelo Ngcobo / Independent Newspapers
In the women's race, Steyn was happy to let Elizabeth Mukoloma lead the way in the early stages of the race.
Just over the two-hour, 20-minute mark, Mukoloma had opened up a major gap over Steyn as she went out at a blistering pace.
Mukoloma's pace was so impressive that if she had kept it up she would have broken the down-run record. But by the 2h42 mark, Steyn caught Mukoloma and took the lead in emphatic style and opened up a significant gap on her competitors.