Latest news with #TeteDijana
The Herald
4 hours ago
- Sport
- The Herald
Elite Comrades runners hindered by missed supplement bottles
Several runners who contested top positions in the 98th Comrades Marathon on Sunday blamed undersized tables used to hold elite athletes' bottles for missing their timed fuelling, believing this led to them cramping at crucial segments of the race. Athletes use various energy gels and supplements needed by their bodies to prevent cramping and other issues. Former Comrades marathon winner Edward Mothibi attributed part of his cramping during the second half of the 89.9km race to missing his nutrition bottles at some of the demarcated elite tables. Speaking during the post-race media conference, Mothibi, who placed fourth in the men's race, said that when they reached about 60km he had started having some problems. 'Just about 25km [distance remaining], I started getting some problems,' he said. 'I kept on cramping and I needed to take water each time. 'There was a stage where I was behind, and [race winner] Tete Dijana had to wait for me and ask, 'brother, what is going on?'. 'I told him I kept on cramping and that it was not a good sign. 'I said, 'You must just go for now, I will catch up.' 'We do take nutrition. I was taking nutrition the whole day, but the sad part is that sometimes we had to kneel and try to grab the [special] drinks, and it was very difficult for us. 'We had to skip drinks every time. Without our Nedbank supporters, we could not have got drinks. At least we got them.' He said there had been no way they could have grabbed the drinks from the floor, so they had skipped them and got them from the Nedbank seconders at the next spot. His club manager, Nick Bester, said they had held three meetings with some of the Comrades Marathon Association committee members, telling them that their approach to elite tables was not going to work. 'It is too complicated. They make it too different,' he said. 'We told them before the time, we said they must allow hand and stand, and they said no, they don't want to allow hand and stand.' Bester said he had spoken to women's winner Gerda Steyn's husband, and she had got only three bottles from the elite water stations. 'So that's unacceptable,' he said. 'If he were not on the motorbike with hired people and supporting her, then it would have been big trouble. 'So that was a shortfall and a shortfall could have been prevented if they had listened to the team managers because we are coming with the race for 45 years.' Another elite athlete, who also struggled grabbing the bottles, was Maxed Elite's new star signing, Joseph Manyedi. Manyedi said that during the last 14km of the race he had struggled with cramps when pushing the pace while pursuing Mothibi and Piet Wiersma, who were a few metres in front of him. Manyedi said elite athletes should have their own people second them on the road. Runners and managers from other clubs did not want to speak on record, but also voiced their frustrations. Comrades Marathon Association general manager Alain Dalais confirmed some club managers had spoken to him about the height of the elite water station tables. 'I''s our second year attempting the elite stations,' he said. 'We will take that feedback constructively and look at continuing to improve it next year.' — WATCH: We are the Champions News Agency
eNCA
a day ago
- Sport
- eNCA
Warriors of the Comrades Down Run
South Africa is witnessing a golden era of ultramarathon performance. Over the past few years, local runners have stamped their dominance on the Comrades Marathon. Tete Dijana and Gerda Steyn have earned international acclaim through consistency, discipline and remarkable pace over gruelling distances. Dijana, a security guard, inspires many with his humble background and meteoric rise to a three-time Comrades winner. Steyn, who has won multiple Two Oceans Marathons, has set a new standard for women's distance running in South Africa. MEN'S COMRADES DOWN RUN WINNERS Year Winner Country Time 2025 Tete Dijana South Africa 5:25:28 2023 Tete Dijana South Africa 5:13:58 2019 Edward Mothibi South Africa 5:31:33 2018 Bongmusa Mthembu South Africa 5:26:34 2016 David Gatebe South Africa 5:18:19 MEN'S DOWN RUN RECORD HOLDER 2023 Tete Dijana South Africa 5:13:58 In 2023, Dijana mounted an incredible race to smash the down run record previously held by David Gatebe by over four minutes. WOMEN'S COMRADES DOWN RUN WINNERS Year Winner Country Time 2025 Gerda Steyn South Africa 5:51:19 2023 Gerda Steyn South Africa 5:44:54 2019 Gerda Steyn South Africa 5:58:53 2018 Ann Ashworth South Africa 6:10:04 2016 Charne Bosman South Africa 6:25:55 WOMEN'S DOWN RUN RECORD HOLDER 2023 Gerda Steyn South Africa 5:44:54 Steyn is widely regarded as the queen of ultra-distance running in South Africa. Her 2023 win not only marked a personal best but broke a record previously held by Frith van der Merwe since 1989.
TimesLIVE
a day ago
- Sport
- TimesLIVE
Dijana says he conquered ‘the devil' to win 2025 Comrades
Tete Dijana felt he conquered 'the devil' by winning the 2025 Comrades Marathon on Sunday's , recovering from a gruelling run where he struggled with dizziness and cramps to finish 14th last year. The 37-year-old from Mahikeng in the North West crossed the line in 5hrs 25min 28sec to bag his third Comrades Marathon down run triumph. He won the back-to-back downs in 2022 and 2023. Dijana beat second-placed Dutchman and last year's winner Piet Wiersma by just five seconds, replicating the sprint finish between the Nedbank Running Club teammates and result of the last down race in 2023.
The Citizen
a day ago
- Politics
- The Citizen
Cartoon of the day: 9 June 2025
Not all comrades are equal. While South Africa celebrates the winners of this year's Comrades Marathon, the political comrades are far from winning the country they run. Tete Dijana won his third Comrades Marathon Down Run on Sunday, beating last year's champion Piet Wiersma. In the ladies' race, Gerda Steyn won her fourth Comrades Marathon title. She finished ahead of Russia's Alexandra Morozova, while Shelmisth Muriuki became the first Kenyan woman to make the marathon's podium, finishing in third place. Steyn became only the second woman, after Russian athlete Elena Nurgalieva, to win the race more than three times. 'So many things have to go right in the lead-up to the race, and in your life, to get to the point where you're in the finishing straight, just about to win the Comrades. 'It takes so many pieces of the puzzle for that to happen, and that moment is short, but it is so meaningful and impactful. So I try and share it a bit because that moment is so big you can't experience it all by holding it in yourself,' she said after the race. ALSO READ: 'It changes me': Emotional Gerda Steyn delighted with fourth Comrades win Comrades of the worst kind Meanwhile, comrades of a different kind have been competing for political moemishes. Jacob Zuma last week reminded the country that his MK party is still incredibly divided after it redeployed secretary-general Floyd Shivambu over his visit to Malawi and fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri. EFF leader Julius Malema reacted to his former deputy's troubles but had drama of his own. US President Donald Trump's advisor, Pastor Mark Burns, last week called on Malema to apologise for singing 'Kill the Boer.' SA President Cyril Ramaphosa has also been battering off critics, this time of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). On Friday, he questioned whether their opposition was rooted in 'greed' or 'jealousy'. Meanwhile, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe is still licking his political wounds after his son was appointed chairperson of the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Seta board, and then dismissed amid public outcry. NOW READ: 'We should be grateful we have a government that listens': Ramaphosa says Seta board appointments a 'mistake'
IOL News
2 days ago
- Sport
- IOL News
Comrades Marathon: He did it! Johannes Maros Mosehla finishes Comrades Marathon at 83!
INSPIRING Johannes Maros Mosehla broke his own record as the oldest finisher in Comrades Marathon history at 83-years-old on Sunday. Picture: While the headlines were justifiably dominated by Tete Dijana and Gerda Steyn at the Comrades Marathon on Sunday, one runner slowly shuffled across the finish line without much fanfare in a new record. That, of course, was Johannes Maros Mosehla who broke his own record as the oldest ever finisher in race history at 83-year-old. The inspiring runner crossed the line in 11 hours 47 minutes and 27 seconds (11:47:27), just a little over 12 minutes before the cutoff. Mosehla did not run the race last year, after becoming the oldest ever finisher at Comrades in 2023 at the age of 81. That made him the oldest-ever runner to finish Comrades, beating out the record held by the legendary Wally Hayward, who finished the race at the age of 80 in 1989. Hayward was a five-time winner of Comrades during his heyday.
