Comrades Marathon: 17 June 2007

 Men and women:  Separate Other races:   

All runners

#  Pos arrow Name arrow Time arrow Cat arrow Club arrow Graded arrow Pace arrow
1 1 Greg Stevens 7:09:15 V45 Serpentine 76.3% 7:46
2 2 Ian Sharman 7:09:58 SM Serpentine 71.3% 7:46

Report

As the biggest ultra in the world, with 12,000 runners this year, the atmosphere was bound to be electric. But standing on the start line in Pietermaritzburg (South Africa) in the dark just before 5:30am with Chariots of Fire in the background really is something special. It was close to freezing at the start but by the end of the race in Durban it can get up to 30 degrees.

The route has 5 major hills but undulates over the 89.3km road course. It alternates each year between the down-run of Pietermaritzburg-Durban and the up-run in the opposite direction. Most say the down run is harder on the legs but running that far uphill can't be too easy either so it probably depends on whether you're aiming to go fast or to finish within the cut-off of 12 hours.

Fantastic support the whole way keeps you going, which I found to be better even than in the London marathon. Plus water/energade/food tables every km or two really helps too. If you only do 1 ultra, do this one.

Race report by Ian Sharman

Result queries

If you have any queries about these results please email results@serpentine.org.uk