WHILE many eyes are looking to see who will win the Comrades Marathon that will be run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg next month, others will be delighted to see familiar faces.
This year’s Comrades, which will be the 99th, will be held on June 14.
In the last race which was going up in 2024, Gerda Steyn won for the women who is undoubtedly the favorite this time too.
For men, the rope was won by Piet Wiersma after Tete Dijana, who was being watched, had cramps.
There are many runners looking to challenge Gerda and Piet this time. For men, Tete will definitely be there as well as the long-distance runner who holds many records, Aleksandr Sorokin, from Lithuania has confirmed that he will run Comrades for the first time.
However, other eyes will want to see which famous people will be running.
Singer Mandisi Dyantyis is one of those on the list of those who will be running this year’s Comrades which has not started.
He recently completed the 56km Two Oceans Marathon in 04:49:21.
Another singer who is among the champions as he has a green number (earned by those who finish 10 races and above as he has finished 13 times), Kabelo Mabalane of TKZee fame, appears among the entrants. This young man who has changed his life and accepted the call to become a Teacher.
Recently, he was in the news on social media as he appeared to be performing on stage and people praised him for not robbing his fans for singing without moving his mouth.
Another one in the music industry who is making his debut is Sabelo Ngema who is a member of the group Afro Soul.
He always shares with his followers on social media where his love for running came from and how his training is going. His running mate, DJ Nzwiri, who scratches plates and also looks like an actor in Zalo and Malanga Awafani, was forced to withdraw due to injury.
He was injured after securing a place in the Cosmos 3-in-1 race at Secunda in March.
A businessman who is famous for boxing and once entered the ring with rapper Big Zulu, is registered as a participant in this race which will be 85.777km.
After beating Big Zulu, he followed up with Skeem Saam actor Pholoso Mohlala and then challenged Naak Musiq.
At the weekend he finished the Durban International Marathon which started from Prospecton and ended at People’s Park at Moses Mabhida Stadium in 4:11.
Heazy Madida, the brother of Zakes Bantwini, who is the host of Gagasi FM, was running in the Durban International Marathon.
He used it to develop his first Comrades.
He will be on the road with his broadcast partner Clement Manyathela of 702 who is famous for grilling politicians.
It will be Clement’s second run as in 2024 he finished with09:59:40.
The politicians who signed up are Sihle Zikalala, the Deputy Minister of Public Works.
Zikala is training hard as he has just finished with Two Oceans in Cape Town.
At the weekend he ran 10km and supported other runners at the Durban International. In 2024 he finally elected after registering.
There are also other politicians who will not be running Comrades for the first time, namely Makashule Gana of RISE Mzansi and David Masondo who is the Deputy Minister of Finance.