Boksburg Athletic Club celebrates six silver medals at Comrades
Hundred-and-nine Boksburg Athletic Club (BAC) members lined up for this year’s Comrades Marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, with 99 completing the run.
There were some remarkable achievements from BAC members this year; these included six silver medals (finishing the race in under 7:30:00).
This included runners Eugene van der Westhuizen (6:38:01), Nicholas McCann (6:45:15), Lindy-Lee Folscher (7:09:41), Ryan Gibson (7:18:15), Wynand Strydom (7:24:11) and Lucky Ramakuwela (7:26:27).
Van der Westhuizen finished in the top 100 of the entire Comrades Marathon field, and Lindy-Lee Folscher finished in the top 15 in the women’s race, and 10th in her age category.
Twenty members earned themselves Bill Rowan medals by finishing in a time under nine hours.
Rita van Wyk ran in a time of 8:55:44 finishing eighth in her age category (50 to 59 years). Forty-five members finished in under 11 hours, earning themselves a bronze medal and 28 members earned Vic Clapham medals by finishing before the 12-hour race cut-off.
Seven members earned their permanent “Green Numbers” by completing their 10th Comrades Marathon, and Ben Truter earned his “Double Green Number” by completing his 20th Comrades Marathon.
Boksburg Athletic Club finished 11th overall in the women’s open category, 20th overall in the men’s open category, 23rd overall in the men’s veteran category and 20th overall in the women’s veteran category.
Chairman of Boksburg Athletic Club, Amanda Harvey, expressed her pride at these remarkable achievements, explaining that the Comrades Marathon is arguably one of the toughest ultra-marathons in the world, requiring immense discipline to train for, and huge mental strength to compete in.
*The 91st edition of the Comrades Marathon saw a new record being set by race debutant David Gatebe.
The 35-year-old 2013 Two Oceans Marathon winner completed the gruelling race in five hours, 18 minutes and 19 seconds – shaving off two minutes and 22 seconds from the previous record set by Russian international Leonid Shvetsov in 2007.
Also read: Ekurhuleni mayor takes part in yet another Comrade’s marathon
The podium was completed by Ludwick Mambolo who settled for the runner-up position, while Bongmusa Mthembu finished third. Mambolo is the 2012 champion and Mthembu took the top honours in 2014.
Charne Bosman was the first woman to cross the finish line with a time of 6:25:55 while Caroline Wostmann and Kasja Berg finished second and third respectively. – @SabeloBoksburg
