Comrades 2025 Runner Stories: A 24 minute negative split for an 11:59:38 finish

Share:

One of the Comrades stats I am interested in every year is, “Who goes through Drummond the slowest and still earns a medal?”

There are usually just a handful of people who go through Drummond and cross the finish line under 12 hours and someone going through Drummond over 6h10 and earning a medal is a rarity. This year the distance from the Drummond timing mat to the finish meant that the second ‘half’ was 380m longer making a negative split an even more impressive feat.

In 2025, the honour of slowest through Drummond to earn a medal goes to Namibian Nangolo Ashipala. Nangolo went through Drummond in 6:11:47* and had to run 24 minutes faster over the second half for a ‘perfectly paced’ 11:58:38 Vic Clapham medal. That’s an average pace of 36 seconds per kilometre faster from the halfway mark.

* I am not aware of anyone going through halfway slower and earning a medal but don’t have full records to do a comprehensive check.

Despite the time pressure, Nangolo kept his spirits up (photo MarathonPhoto).

However, it was not plain sailing from halfway. Looking at the stats, Nangolo ran his slowest split of the day on the tortuous climb to Botha’s Hill. From there the pressure was on but the running from Windhoek City Runners Club was one of the many back of the packers who saved the best for last and ran the final two splits as his fastest of the day.

Catching and staying just ahead of the 12 hour bus (photo MarathonPhoto).

Here is Nangolo’s story in his own words…

“I started cramping just 20 kilometres into the race, and by the time I reached Drummond, 25 minutes behind my plan, I knew I’d have to pull a rabbit out of the hat if I wanted to claim my back-to-back medal.

In the second half, it became a mental game. I kept telling myself, ‘Just claw back a few seconds every kilometre. You’ve been here before’. Little by little, I edged my way back into contention.

With 1km to go and the countdown booming through the speakers, I emptied the tank. Somehow, I ran my fastest split of the day in the 90th kilometre and crossed the line with just 22 seconds to spare.

I guess you could say I got maximum value for my entry fee!”

Storming to the finish line with 22 seconds to spare (photo MarathonPhoto)
Follow Running Mann:
Share:

7 Replies to “Comrades 2025 Runner Stories: A 24 minute negative split for an 11:59:38 finish”

  1. The is the true spirit of a Comrade.
    With all the struggles from the cramp., the goal was there to complete m
    Truly blessed.

  2. Much respect for him and we’ll done.
    Indeed it is the mental strength that takes almost all of us I think to the finish line.
    Despite cramping and loosing time he didn’t give up and had the courage to get to finish.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: implode(): Argument #2 ($array) must be of type ?array, string given in /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisFollowButtonsToolParent.php:140 Stack trace: #0 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisFollowButtonsToolParent.php(140): implode(Array, '_') #1 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisFollowButtonsHorizontalTool.php(91): AddThisFollowButtonsToolParent::formatServicesForAddThisLayers(Array) #2 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisFeature.php(1148): AddThisFollowButtonsHorizontalTool->getAddThisLayers() #3 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisPlugin.php(695): AddThisFeature->getAddThisLayersTools() #4 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisPlugin.php(921): AddThisPlugin->getJavascriptForGlobalVariables() #5 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(324): AddThisPlugin->printAddThisWidgetScript('') #6 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(348): WP_Hook->apply_filters(NULL, Array) #7 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/plugin.php(517): WP_Hook->do_action(Array) #8 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/general-template.php(3080): do_action('wp_footer') #9 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/themes/twentyseventeen/footer.php(48): wp_footer() #10 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/template.php(810): require_once('/usr/www/users/...') #11 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/template.php(745): load_template('/usr/www/users/...', true, Array) #12 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/general-template.php(92): locate_template(Array, true, true, Array) #13 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/themes/twentyseventeen/single.php(49): get_footer() #14 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-includes/template-loader.php(106): include('/usr/www/users/...') #15 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-blog-header.php(19): require_once('/usr/www/users/...') #16 /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/index.php(17): require('/usr/www/users/...') #17 {main} thrown in /usr/www/users/runnixjuws/wp-content/plugins/addthis-follow/backend/AddThisFollowButtonsToolParent.php on line 140