Frith backs Gerda to break her Comrades down-run record

Gerda Steyn has received backing from an unlikely source in her quest to break the Comrades Marathon down-run record during the 48th running of the world-famous ultra’s Pietermaritzburg-to-Durban leg. 

The SA road-running darling who holds the up-run record of 5hr 58 min 53 sec will on June 11 attempt to smash the 5:54:43 mark set two years before she was born.

And the woman who ran that incredible time back in 1989 is certain her name will no longer be prefixed with the phrase “Comrades Marathon record holder” after Sunday. 

Frith van der Merwe, who watched in awe as Steyn deposed her as the Two Oceans Marathon record holder in 2022 before she went on to improve that mark in 2023, says everything points to the lass from Bothaville setting a new mark at the Ultimate Human Race. 

“I honestly think Gerda can break my record,” said the schoolteacher from Benoni, who had a phenomenal year back in 1989 when she ran record times in the Two Oceans and Comrades. 

“I’ve always said that anyone who goes into those races with a better marathon personal best than mine has a chance to break it. And back then I had a 2:27 and Gerda has a 2:25. She will break my record. My advice to her is that she must just run her normal race.” 

Van der Merwe is not the only one convinced Steyn will confirm her status as SA’s road-running queen next weekend.

A Comrades legend who was unfortunate never to win the race despite her immense talent shares that view. 

“Of course Gerda will break the record,” said 10-time Comrades finisher Grace de Oliveira. “She has the ability to do that and she’s in great shape.” 

The Durbanite, who has seven gold medals and was a runner-up and third-place finisher, believes the current generation are fortunate compared with hers from the early 2000s. 

“During my time we had a lot of foreigners coming to run Comrades and most of the top 10 finishers were from outside the country unlike ... now. And this has left the race open for the South Africans to do well and even win it. 

“Gerda is a talented athlete who works very hard and I am sure she will break the record.” 

What will help Steyn in her quest is that 2023’s race is a little shorter than it was when Van der Merwe did the then unthinkable and dipped under the six-hour mark. 

The down-run will this year finish at the Kingsmead Cricket Stadium instead of the Moses Mabhida Stadium, which will be hosting ABC Motsepe League play-offs.

The Comrades Marathon Association said in a statement a few weeks ago that 2023’s official distance will be 87.701km. That is 2.2km shorter than it was in 2022, when Russian Alexandra Morozova won. More significantly, though, Steyn will be running a good 1.899km less than Van der Merwe did when she set that long-standing mark. 

The Phantane Athletics Club star said after rewriting the Two Oceans Marathon record in April that she will be out to race Comrades and she has been training hard in preparation for an onslaught on the long-standing mark.

And Van der Merwe is resigned to handing over her crown as the Comrades down-run queen.