'Comrades Marathon Queen' Steyn's race now Olympics
'I want to be an inspirational story at the end of this year'
Image: Darren Stewart
After proving yet again why she’s “the queen of Comrades Marathon” by winning this gruelling 85km race for a third time in a row to pocket just over R2m in Pietermaritzburg yesterday, Gerda Steyn didn’t hide that being questioned for going to the Olympics after a taxing year doesn’t sit well with her.
Steyn clocked 5:49:46 to clinch her third Comrades Marathon triumph, breaking her 2019 up-run record (5:58:53) by just over nine minutes. Dutchman Piet Wiersma crossed the finish line in 5:25:00 to win the men’s race.
Steyn will compete at the Olympics in Paris in nine weeks. Many question whether her body will really carry her after the Comrades Marathon and the Two Oceans Marathon, that she also won eight weeks ago. Steyn strongly believes she’ll still do well in Paris, rebuking those who question her decision as she aims to be an “inspiration”.
“To be here today winning the Comrades after the Two Oceans, I can’t say anything other than to say I am so humbled and grateful for the year I am having. I am sure it has never been done before for an athlete to do the Comrades and the Olympics in the same year, it’s a big challenge that I’ve set for myself to do,” Steyn said after the Comrades Marathon in Pietermaritzburg yesterday.
“I want to inspire people to do difficult things and I don’t like it when people question my choices in a way. Humans are capable of so much more and sometimes it’s too easy to go to your comfort zone and do what you are good at or do what you do everyday. I want to be an inspirational story at the end of this year.”
The 34-year-old Steyn bagged R825,000 for winning the race. She’ll also get an additional R500,000 for breaking the up-run record and another R500,000 for a fastest ever average pace. There’s also a further R200,000 for being the first South African home and R50,000 for the Cell C Hot Spot incentive.
Wiersma, who as a novice came second last year, attributed his win to a six weeks training camp he had in Kenya. Wiersma is the first non-South African runner to win this race since Zimbabwe’s Stephen Muzhingi won it in 2011.