Homegrown hero
June 16, 2003 Edition -1
Iqbal Khan
The "red brigade's" stranglehold over the Comrades Marathon was finally broken by a South African when Fusi Nhlapo, 32, of Liberty Nike, devastated a top-class field to win the marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban today.
But the domination by international runners remained in the women's race when Elena Nurgalieva, of the Mr Price World team, finished ahead of the strong women's field to win in 6:07:46, which was outside Frith van der Merwe's 14-year down run record.
Her twin sister, Olesya, was placed second in 6:12:07 - the first time sisters have finished first and second in the Comrades Marathon. Third place went to Tatyana Zhirkova of Russia and in fourth place was Germany's Maria Bak.
Although Nhlapo did not break Bruce Fordyce's long-standing down run record of 5:24:07, he was cheered home by a thunderous crowd at Kingsmead in a cracking time of 5:28:52.
Nhlapo, who lost his job late last year and has been jobless ever since, looked weary but was delighted at the end of the race. He was given a rousing welcome and a huge hug by his wife, Cynthia, who was at the finish tape.
He said: "I feel very proud winning the race - this is dedicated to all South Africans. I really feel great at the moment and will be back next year to win the up run."
Oleg Kharitonov, the 35-year-old Russian who finished 12th in his debut Comrades in 2001 and fourth last year in the up run, finished second in 5:31:41 to earn his second gold in successive runs.
Joseph Molaba, who has three silvers to his credit, slipped into third place, while Jorge Aubeso Martinez of the Mr Price World team was fourth in 5:32:31. The 2001 down run champion Andrew Kelehe, who started off slowly but continued to creep up to the front, finished in fifth place - his seventh gold medal in the last seven starts in the world famous ultra-marathon.
Kelehe's time was 5:35:18 - 10 minutes slower than his 2001 run when he won the title.
It's the first time in many years that the South Africans have dominated the top five placings in this race. There were seven South Africans in the Top 10, with Liberty Nike dominating the the top finishers and annexing the Gunga Din team trophy in the process.
Nhlapo, who had run three Comrades before today, has been a consistent runner - finishing sixth in 2000, fifth in 2001 and then 10th last year. Today's win was undoubtedly the biggest moment of his running career.
He picked up the R160 000 first prize plus bonuses from his club.
Disaster struck KwaZulu-Natal's Willie Mtolo again this year. Running strongly and looking good for a top three finish, he began walking as he came through Westville and headed for 45th Cutting. And he slowly dropped further behind the leaders and eventually settled for a disappointing eighth spot.
Just ahead of Mtolo were Sarel Ackermann in sixth place and Walter Nkosi next in 5:39:25.
The battle was intense up to Drummond, the halfway stage of the race, as temperatures began rising into the 20s.
Themba Lamane of Harmony Gold, led most of the way to Drummond, but then seemed to run out of gas.
South African Walter Nkosi and the Mr Price World team hopefuls Eduard Tukhbatullin, Oleg Kharitonov and Denis Zhalybin began increasing the pressure as they took an early stranglehold on the race.
Nkosi, who finished seventh, picked up the R20 000 Pick 'n Pay Dash for Cash cheque for being the first gold medallist to reach the halfway mark. He was timed at 2:45:30, while Kharitonov and Zhalybin went through at 2:45:32.
The second bunch of Nkosi, Tukhbatullin, Kharitonov and Zhalybin were looking fresh and as they went through the Valley of a Thousand Hills they increased their lead over the next bunch of runners to three and half minutes.
With 34km to go the "red brigade" of the Mr Price World team, Zhalybin Kharitoniv and Tukhbatullin, moved into pole position as Nkosi's challenge fell away.
After the front-runners went through Hillcrest and headed for Field's Hill the leaderboard changed dramatically. Joseph Molaba of Harmony Gold went out in front with Nkosi, Kharitonov, Nhlapo, Mtolo, Tukhbatullin, Sarel Ackermann, Mohlala Mohloli following him closely.
As they went down Field's Hill Nhlapo was ahead of Kharitonov, Zhalybin and Nkosi. The Liberty Nike runner opened up a 200-metre lead on his rivals.
The first woman through the halfway mark was Mr Price World team's Simone Staicu, in 3:02:31. The Hungarian, who had not run further than 56km in her career, was pacing herself well and set the tone of the women's race.
Tatyana Zhirkova was 17 seconds behind her through Drummond, while Elvira Kolpakova, who won the last "down" run, was timed at 3:07:52 with fourth and fifth places being filled by Elena and Olesya Nurgalieva. Their time at halfway was 3:11:28.
