Iain Morshead from the Fordyce Fusion team contacted me asking,
“One of our athletes is an outstanding soon to be 70-year-old woman who ran an astonishing 9h08 on the up this year.
We have approached the CMA to establish what the record is, but they have so far, not been able to assist.
Given your insight into Comrades statistics, are you perhaps able to identify the existing women’s 50+ and 70+ records?”
This is exactly the kind of stat that fascinates me so naturally I was happy to oblige*.
* I’ll just cover the 70+ record in this article and will do 50+ and 60+ in a separate article.
The 69-year old athlete in question is Jennifer Kellett from Australia who ran a phenomenal 9:08:47 at this year’s Comrades. Just how good is that time in comparison to the rest of the field? The only other 60+ lady to beat her time was 61-year-old Janine Goes from Dolphin Coast Striders with a 9:01:48 and you need to go all the way back to 57-year-old Deidre Maree from Stella AC for the oldest lady to crack a Bill Rowan.
So, what is the fastest ever time for a 70+ lady? From the full results records I have, the fastest time prior to 2024 was Jacqueline Millett from the UK who ran a 10:41:38 in 2023. However, American runner Suzanne Koonce slipped in under the radar at this year’s event with a new fastest time of 10:29:26.
Kellett looks well placed to better that mark. If anything, her form has improved since Comrades. She recently ran an 8 minute PB at the Sydney Marathon (3:26:22) which was also new world best for Age 69 as well as an Australian record for the 65-69 age group. She then broke both records again this weekend at Chicago with a 3:23:19 finish.
Kellett places credit for her late blossoming distance running career with the coaching skills of Morshead and the Fordyce Fusion team. She says that prefers to “run by effort rather than by speed” and that “the speed work helped a great deal”. The bad news for anyone wanting to give Kellett a run for her money is that she says, “I know I can get faster yet.”
Kellett will be back for the 2025 Down run and must be odds on favourite to add another record to her collection. With the 70+ ladies record transferring ownership from the UK to the USA in recent years and probably to Australia in 2024, it might be time for patriotic South Africans to buy their grannies a pair of running shoes this Christmas – you never know what talent might be sitting on the couch watching Generations, Muvhango and 7de Laan!
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Wow – Iain read my mind! Suzanne was in my tour group for Comrades 2023 and 2024, and when she won her age group, I was curious whether she held the all-time AG record but didn’t bother reaching out to the CMA. Thanks!
This is great news for us oldies! I have just turned 70yrs and want to give the comrades a shot in 2025. These ladies that are doing these great times at comrades must give me some tips. I’m recovering from previous severe injuries, started with MAF training and seem to be progressing steadily!
Some advise will be greatly appreciated! Duduzile
Running Mann. I rather doubt that Christine’s and Sarah’s granny would be up for the challenge😂😂😂