Shane Hinchliffe Archives - The Running Mann

6th June 2025

The Stellar Stella Ladies (Gina Hinchliffe & Helen Mann)

When it comes to the females with the most Comrades medals, there is one club that completely dominates with four names on the Top 10 list: Stella Athletics Club. What is even more incredible is that there are currently just nine women who’ve run 30 or more Comrades. Two of our Stella Four, Pat Fisher and Pat Freeman, have already notched up their Triple Greens whilst the other two, Gina Hinchliffe and Helen Mann, will be aiming to add a third laurel to their impressive Comrades records this Sunday. This article focuses on the two ladies who will be lining up in Pietermaritzburg on 29 not out.

Funnily enough, both Gina and Helen have been on my radar – together with their other halves Shane and Garry – on the list of husbands and wives with the most Comrades medals. The two couples have a combined total of 123 medals which should increase to 127 this weekend. The Hinchliffes (with 61) are also just behind the Margolins (with 62) on the most married medals at Two Oceans list.

The Hinchlliffes and the Menn: 123 Comrades medals in one photo

18th December 202418th December 2024

Bluff Marathon (Ruff and Tuff with zero Fluff)

[MARATHON #276 / UNIQUE MARATHON #169 / 17 November 2024]

When someone introduces you to a friend or acquaintance with the caveat, “They’re from the Bluff”, this is a warning. It’s the equivalent of cautioning a friendly stranger that, “My dog bites!”

When you tell someone that you are running the Bluff Marathon, they recoil and give you a similar cautionary look – and whatever statement follows indicates, “That marathon bites!”

With 275 marathons under my belt, I decided it was finally time to see whether I could bite off more than I could chew at the Bluff Marathon – or whether this brutal route would chew me up and spit me out (or, as this is a double-lap course, I guess you could call that a case of “once bitten, twice shy”).

I had been told a lot about the Bluff. Some descriptions fail to live up to expectations. However, it took just a two-second scan of the Fynnlands Sports Club bar (which was also the registration venue and doubles as the Bluff AC clubhouse) to realise that the “Rough and tough and from Bluff” mantra was not propaganda. In fact, if anything the slogan is underhyped. Wearing baggies and a T-shirt, I was probably the most overdressed male at the venue (and by far the least tattooed). You’ll have to take my word for it as I was not about to take an unsolicited photograph and risk someone taking offence.