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My view of Muzhingi's third Comrades Marathon win in a rowMonday, 30 May 2011 14:51 Unpredictable predictabilityby Hugh Pines The 86th Comrades Marathon promised a more unpredictable race than usual and a return to the up run after a two year hiatus would only add to this. Was Zimbabwean Stephen Muzhingi going to deliver on his promise of breaking the up run record with a 5:24 between Durban and Pietermaritzburg? Would a South African finally win the up run? We have certainly been waiting long enough since Jetman Msutu won in 1992. The last woman to win the up run was Rae Bisschoff in 1998. Would the Russian Nurglieva twins finally be challenged? The early morning darkness prevented us on-route journalists on the media truck from seeing who made up the breakaway pack along the N3 and going onto the M13. What was clear though was the blistering pace being set by the front runners. After 56 minutes they were already hitting the climb up Cowies Hill. Zimbabwean Point Chaza (F1 Bluff Meats) claimed the first hot spot at the bottom of Cowies and he would continue his pace for a while to come, leading the way up Fields Hill, through Hillcrest, up Botha's Hill and through Inchanga. He passed the halfway mark on a record pace, a massive seven minutes ahead of South Africa's Fanie Matshipa and two-time defending down run champion Stephen Muzhingi (F1 Bluff Meats).
Everyone was just waiting for Chaza to falter though as it was impossible for him to keep up this pace. His kilometre times started tumbling as fast as Muzhingi and Matshipa was chasing him down. On Harrison Flats it was evident that he was struggling, clutching his left thigh in pain. We witnessed firsthand Chaza being passed by the two Ms and now it was just a matter of whether the South African or the Zimbabwean would take line honours. Matshipa pushed the pace for a while but Muzhingi's experience came through and he pulled away just before Polly Shortts, leaving an energy-deprived Matshipa to climb the long hill that has destroyed so many dreams in the past, alone. Muzhingi knew the record was not on anymore but pushed hard over the final 14km remaining to win the 87km ultra-marathon in 5:32:45. He became the first runner to win three Comrades Marathons in a row since Bruce Fordyce claimed his eighth straight win in 1988. Matshipa, who claimed fifth last year, held on to second and crossed the line just under two minutes later. South African Claude Moshiywa came in third with Sweden's Jonas Buud only 39 seconds behind.
Elena and Olesya Nurglieva* (Mr Price) dominated the race from start to finish. Elena fell near a water table at the 27km mark but recovered quickly and soon caught up with Olesya. They then gradually stretched their lead over South African Farwa Mentoor who went on to finish in fifth but became the first woman to win ten gold medals. Elena broke away in the final kilometres to win in 6:24:11 with Olesya 14 seconds behind. Kami Semick of the US and Great Britain's Ellie Greenwood took third and fourth respectively. 
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