Not your average grandmom (the Malie van der Walt story)

The history of the Comrades Marathon is full of unlikely legends. No one who knew Malie van der Walt growing up thought that she’d ever run Comrades one day, let alone be lining up for her 30^th medal in 2025. As a youngster she showed no inclination for athletics of any kind and was not able to participate in sport at school as she suffered from rheumatic fever which affected her heart.

A young Malie met and married Mike van der Walt. Mike’s father was an avid Comrades runner and Mike regaled stories about how he seconded his dad over the route on his bicycle because there were no formal waterpoints in those days. The inference and matrimonial obligations were clear, since their children were not old enough to handle the seconding duties, this lot fell onto Malie when Mike decided to run Comrades in 1987.

How did Malie find the Comrades supporter experience, “The first three years of him doing the Comrades and me having to watch the kids next to the road was torture. I thought to myself, I’d rather run this race than watch the kids.”

When Malie informed Mike of her Comrades aspirations, “He burst out laughing. That was all I needed to get me motivated.” She started running around the garden 3 to 4 times a day, “It was pure torture, I was out of breath and had chest pains but I was not prepared to give in.” However, Malie was persistent and when a path began to show in the grass around the house, Mike offered to measure a 1km training route for her so that she would, “Stop killing the grass.” The grass was saved and Malie ran a kilometre a day.

It was the beginning of great things and Malie found herself alongside Mike at the start of Comrades 1993. She recalls the experience, “Everything was so overwhelming and when they played the national anthem I couldn’t stop crying. I never in my life thought I would be standing at the starting line of the Comrades.” Mike, ever the charmer, told her to “Stop crying or you will be dehydrated even before the gun goes off.”

The joke however was on Mike as Malie finished an hour ahead of him in 8h29. This is a pattern that would be repeated over the 9 Comrades that they started together (although Mike did manage to claw back one ‘victory’ by 4 minutes in 1998). I asked if she had a photo of the two of them running together and was told there are none. Malie explained, “We seldom finish a race together without domestic violence because your men always think they can tell you what to do, how to breathe, how to run, that you’re starting too fast and so on – and then I would just leave him and run ahead.”

Sadly, Mike’s Comrades career ended in 2005 after knee replacement surgery and since then he has been Malie’s number one supporter at the side of the road. Malie muses, “Mike is a much better supporter than a running partner.”

Malie ran her first five Comrades comfortably under 9 hours in the days before the Bill Rowan medal with her fastest being 7h58 in 1996. Once the new medal was introduced, she ran a steady stream of Bill Rowans all the way until she turned 50. After six bronzes, a Vic Clapham and a Robert Mtshali in her 50s, Malie lined up for her first Comrades as a grandmaster in 2023. She decided to have a go at adding one more Bill Rowan to her collection and produced an amazing run, finishing in 8h42 to take the ladies grandmaster prize.

I think running is my addiction and therapy.  It helped me through many rough times in my life. When I’m down or struggle I just put on my running shoes and always feel better after a run.

Malie van der Walt

There was one race that stands out as the toughest experience and shows that even experienced runners can make mistakes, “One year everyone got a black and yellow jacket from a certain brand of shoes if you finish the race in that brand. I went and bought myself a pair – LOL – and halfway into the race I took them off and ran 12km barefoot. But then the tar started to get hot and I only had one sock left as I used the other one for toilet paper. I put the shoes back on, but it was pure torture. We still had to finish the race under 11 hours at that stage and my one foot was one big blister. Somewhere along the route the blister burst and blood was coming out on the side of my shoe. A doctor that was running said he couldn’t believe I kept on running and finished the race in 10h45. That was my worst one!”

Malie has also been a dedicated servant of the sport and has been actively involved in the administrative and leadership side of Athletics Vaal Triangle (AVT). Malie says, “I think I’m like old furniture in the province now.” She was nominated to the AVT Road Commission by Oom ‘Oubaas’ Coetzee, a legendary figure in highveld athletics circles. Later she was asked to be the Administrator of the Province and rose to the challenge. About 10 years ago, she was elected as the Provincial Road Chairperson (and is the person I bug to get the AVT marathon fixture list).

Malie was originally scheduled for her triple laurel in 2024 but had a DNS. I asked her about this, “I took the Provincial AVT Team to the SA Half Marathon Championships in Gqeberha the week before Comrades. On Saturday morning the weather was horrible. The athletes had to start in the rain and wind. I took their tracksuits and tried to keep them dry. By the time they finished I was soaking wet and ice cold. I got sick and it went from bad to worse. I was hoping that once I reached Durban, I would be better, but I know that I made the right decision not to run. Afterward there was fluid in my lungs and the doctor told me I would not even have reached the outskirts of Durban. I was heartbroken. But that’s life.”

Sadly this will be Malie last Comrades as year of running just a peak and without sunblock resulted in skin cancer, “I’ve had basal cell carcinoma on my face and although I use a 100% sunblock these days my dermatologist told me I must stay out of the sun.” Most women do not share unflattering pictures of themselves but Malie is not most women. She was happy to share the photo below as a cautionary tale, pointing out, “Look where my peak covers my forehead. People don’t realize how dangerous it is to run without sunblock.” Her number one piece of advice for novice Comrades runners is – don’t forget your sunblock!

She will be joined by her middle daughter Michelle (incidentally this is a good choice of name if you want your child to run Comrades as it is the most common name of female entrants in 2025). Michelle will be running her fifth Comrades and the two ran and qualified together at the Elands Marathon in March.

Whilst those who knew her as a girl might be surprised to hear that Malie will be lining up on Sunday to join an exclusive club of just nine ladies who’ve run 30 Comrades or more, anyone who has run with her will tell you that she is an ‘yster’. It’s therefore appropriate that she started her running career at Yscor Running Club which became ArcelorMittal and was recently renamed again to ACTOM after ownership changes.

Malie professes five great loves: family, friends, running, animals and beautiful trees. I decided to focus more on the final item on that list. “I’m not your average grandmom!” exclaimed Malie and she certainly isn’t. “I love to climb trees, I can’t resist a beautiful tree that’s easy to climb.” My kids have done a lot of different activities with their grannies but tree climbing is not one of them! I guess you could look at that being a different kind of hill training.

There are just 175 ladies of 60 or older still running Comrades but you can bet that only one of those, #15643, is still an active tree climber. The good news is that tree climbing is, by definition, done in the shade so whilst the doctor’s orders may be curtailing Malie’s Comrades career, she’ll still have one outlet for her youthful exuberance. Go well Malie, enjoy your final trip to Durban.

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