The Best Comrades Up Run Silver of All Time?

If you think running a negative split at Comrades is tough you should have tried to achieve this feat at the 2022 Down run when the second “half” (from the Drummond timing mat) was 2.2km longer than the first. In fact, there was just one person who finished under 7h30 and managed this accomplishment – Lindt De La Port.

What is even more impressive is that, weighing in at 90 kilograms and bearing a Afrikaner-Portuguese hybrid physique that resembles fortified (rather than fine) wine, de la Port is the heaviest person to achieve a Silver medal that I know of (if there is a heavier Silver medallist out there please let me know).

90 kilograms of Afrikaner-Portuguese hybrid hits the finish straight for a perfectly paced Silver.

But it’s one thing to earn a Silver on the Down run when you’ve got gravity on your side – what about carrying all that cargo up to Pietermaritzburg? In my 2022 stats report I called Lindt the ‘prince of pacing’ but could de la Port upgrade to ‘crown prince’ status at the 2024 Up run?

6th July 20256th July 2025

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

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.

15th June 2021

Life Lessons from the Road: Be Mindful of the Middle

It’s time we revisited that hackneyed piece of common wisdom which states, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” When you are doing anything substantial, like running a marathon or a complex project – starting is easy, finishing is also surprising easy but dealing with the middle is what separates the medal winners from the also-rans. Continue reading “Life Lessons from the Road: Be Mindful of the Middle”

24th August 201819th May 2023

Comrades Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Run

[MARATHON #190 / Comrades #9 / 10 June 2018]

The human brain is a complex network of neural circuits. The two most intense emotions humans can experience are ‘love’ and ‘hate’. Many people think that ‘love’ is the opposite of ‘hate’ but recent neurological studies have shown that the two are so closely related that they even run on the same neural circuits. A better opposite for both ‘love’ and ‘hate’ is apathy. Apathy is not a word one associates with running Comrades – but wild bouts of love and hate are likely to flow through the neurological pathways of one’s brain over the course of a very long day.

The scientific studies did determine one key difference: The cerebral cortex – this is the part of the brain associated with logic, judgement and reasoning – becomes largely deactivated during bouts of love but remains fully functional during hate. I am a rational, lucid and objective human being which explains why I seem to hate Comrades so much more than I love it.

Continue reading “Comrades Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Run”

14th June 201824th July 2018

Heroes Deserve Medals: The Tale of Xolani Luvuno (#15620)

Letter of the Law vs the Spirit of the Law: An Open Letter to the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA)

There were some great performances at Comrades 2018. Bongumusa Mthembu won his third Comrades and became the first South African since Bruce Fordyce (the undisputed the King of Comrades) to claim back to back victories. Likewise, in the women’s race, Ann Ashworth had the race of her life – she started as an outsider but dominated a strong field for a convincing victory.

These were great performances. However, the one that will be remembered is that of a runner who finished way down the field amongst the last of the bronze medallists. This was the year that a one-legged cancer survivor on crutches hopped the longest Comrades in 23 years. The year that a former convict gained redemption. The year that a recovering drug addict who lived under a bridge for several years redefined what is possible. On June 10, Xolani Luvuno astonished and inspired a nation – and the 2018 edition of Comrades will be remembered as Xolani’s year. Continue reading “Heroes Deserve Medals: The Tale of Xolani Luvuno (#15620)”

Tag: Drummond