Durban — Alexandra Morozova went one better than her previous Comrades Marathon runs when she won Sunday’s down-run race from Pietermaritzburg City Hall to Moses Mabhida Stadium.
A runner-up twice in recent editions of the race, the Russian came good with consummate ease to clock 6hr 12min 42sec, a good 12 minutes faster than second-placed Dominka Stelmach who came in at 6:25:08. Local girl Adele Broodryk finished third in her maiden race with an impressive 6:26:34.
Morozova had had to take the Comrades Marathon Association to court to force her participation when the organisers tried to block the Russian’s participation.
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An emotional, Alexandra Morozova takes the women's race in the 95th Comrades Marathon with 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦 South Africa's Adele Broodryk coming in 3rd place 👏![CDATA[]]>👏![CDATA[]]>👏 pic.twitter.com/TTZ1C3yRyw
She clearly knew she had it in her to win after she finished second behind Gerda Steyn in 2019 and occupied the same position on her Comrades debut in 2017. She was third in 2018.
Murray & Roberts’ rising star Broodryk was the first South African home and was followed by her teammate and KwaZulu-Natal local Jenna Chlalenor, who gave the crowd a scare when her legs gave up on her in the tunnel. She managed to get up by holding on to the perimeter advertising railings and looked to have rediscovered her form only to crumble again just before the finish line.
A male athlete attempted to help her up, but was dissuaded by another who encouraged Challenor to crawl to the finish and she did so to great applause from the crowd.