a day ago
‘It was under control,' says Dijana on another epic Comrades clash with Wiersma
Tete Dijana, the 2025 Comrades Marathon winner, said he was 'in full control' even as Dutchman and Nedbank Running Club teammate Piet Wiersma made a charge in the last 2km to close the gap to within about 50m.
Dijana and Wiersma's rivalry is becoming the stuff of Comrades legend.
The South African, a former security guard from Mahikeng in the North West, pipped the Dutchman by three seconds in a sprint finish in the 2023 down run.
Wiersma — after becoming a full-time runner and, as he did ahead of this Sunday's race too, toughening himself in a pre-race camp in the Kenyan mountains in Spartan conditions — won his first Comrades in last year's up run, where Dijana limped over the line with cramps in 14th.
Dijana — who clinched his third Comrades win, adding to those won in the successive down runs of in 2022 and 2023 — ran another down tactical masterclass on Sunday, crediting Nedbank Running coaching guru Dave Adams for the plan.
