SOUTH Africa’s Tete Dijana won the Comrades Marathon on Sunday, crossing the finish line at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in a time of 05:30:38.
Dijana, a security guard who hails from Mahikeng, was running only his second Comrades Marathon.
Incredibly, in 2019, the 34-year-old finished in 50th place.
2019 champion and Dijana’s teammate from the Nedbank Running Club, Edward Mothibi, finished second.
The 95th Comrades Marathon saw thousands of athletes take off from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on Sunday morning.
Race officials measured and confirmed the official distance of this year’s Comrades Marathon down run at 89.885.
In the women’s race, Russia’s Alexandra Morozova claimed first place in a time of 06:17:48.
Morozov’s win didn’t come without controversy,. The athlete was only cleared to compete at the late moment. Since the February invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s teams and athletes have been banned from some major sports and competitions across the world.
She was cleared to race, but contested the Comrades Marathon Association’s (CMA) condition of starting in the ‘H batch’ – which she said was “unjustifiable and ludicrous”.
This is Morozov’s fourth Comrades, however, due to her nationality, will not receive any prize money, as per the CMA’s ruling. This will be contested in court in November. The men’s and women’s race has an equal prize value of R260 000 and a gold medal.
Morozova crossed the finish line at the Moses Mabhida Stadium with an unofficial time of 6:17:48.
Poland’s Dominkia Stelmach claimed second position, and the first South African woman to cross the finish line was Adele Broodryk, who finished third.
The marathon also sees runners from 70 nations around the world competing in the race.
The five top international contingents are from the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, India, Eswatini and Brazil.
Additional reporting by news agencies|
