This ultra marathon a true test of fighting spirit
Every Comrades Marathon winner is unique, but as much as their approaches and motivations may differ, there is a common link which binds each of them together.
While many athletes may have the physical attributes and mental strength to put up a fight for a gold medal at the gruelling annual race, provided they invest the hard work that’s required, it takes something truly special to cross the line first.
Talent and training are not enough. You’d think they would be, but in an ultra-distance race which takes no prisoners, they simply are not.
To win the Comrades requires those things, of course, and with- out natural ability and commitment, it becomes an impossible task. But there is an extra dimension to the make-up of a Comrades winner, all of whom have possessed an intense burning desire, providing them with an indomitable will that can be broken by no man, race or hill.
In the 1920s, Arthur Newton won the race five times, long before it became anywhere near as popular, and in the 1980s, Bruce Fordyce earned nine victories without financial reward. They kept coming back because their desire to win exceeded all else.
The new generation of ultra-distance stars tends to whine a lot more than their predecessors and in the professional era, they expect to be pampered.
They complain they’re not getting enough attention from the media – a privilege Newton would have appreciated – and moan that financial incentives are insufficient – a comment Fordyce would scoff at – but none of that matters on race day.
Their actions off the road are irrelevant when it comes to Comrades glory.
Some elite ultra-distance runners are short, others are tall; some are skinny, others stocky; some flamboyant, others reserved. But none of those characteristics are required to win the race. Size and attitude don’t matter.
The only single trait that is found in every Comrades champion is the unrelenting need to finish first. That’s the only motivation required to win such a brutal battle because it’s the only desire powerful enough to overcome the pain and fatigue that slice through the heart of any athlete trying to charge down Fields Hill in the latter stages of the race.
In the approach to Moses Mabhida Stadium tomorrow, there will be just one man and one woman who are able to summon the necessary will to keep going when all their opponents have given up the fight.
The motivation to win Comrades cannot come from fame or fortune.
When their lungs are screaming for air, their muscles have been beaten into submission and all external motivation has been long forgotten, only a primal need to keep pushing will carry the winners home.
And, as always, tomorrow’s winners will be deserved champions because, of all the 21 500 entrants who take to the road, they will be the athletes who want it the most.