On a cool Durban morning, a field of 20 000 runners set off for Pietermaritzburg at 05:30 for which was the first running of the up run since 2019. Defending up run champion Edward Motihibi together with Nedbank running club teammate and 2022 and 2023 Comrades winner Tete Dijana chose to sit at the back of the huge pack that formed, with Wiersma always at the front of the pack, watching proceedings.

It was a slow first half as the main bunch went through the halfway mark in 2:49, but as soon as the climb started on Inchanga, Wiersma started to test the rest, surging ever so often up the tough climb which saw the pack slowly starting to whittle down. The first drama of the day was when Dijana suddenly stopped on the side of the road, clutching his legs but after a brief moment, accelerated back to join the lead pack. “I was not feeling good,” said Dijana. “It was a combination of feeling cramps in my legs and also feeling dizzy.”

As the pack made their way to Harrison flats, the pace of the group certainly shifted, as lone Russian athlete Aleksei Bersenev who finished in the golds on debut last year, was already 9 minutes ahead. “We started to feel that the guy was too far ahead and were worried because although we felt he started fast, the gap was very big and he was still moving well,” said Wiersma. Nedbank running club teammates Joseph Manyedi, Dan Moselakwe as well as Ethiopian Degefa Lafebo who was running his debut Comrades Marathon were looking comfortable in the pack, with Mothibi the first to fall off the bunch as they made their way through Cato Ridge.

It was just before Umlaas road, the highest point in the course where the group of now 5 Nedbank running club athletes moved into the lead, passing a tired Bersenev who could not stay with them. A ding dong battle ensued as Manyedi who was dropped briefly, surged into the lead and only Wiersma, Moselakwe and Lafebo could respond. Dijana came to a halt on little Polly’s again clutching his legs. It was on this first climb where Wiersma made the race break and although Lafebo and Moselakwe closed a little on the downhill that followed, Wiersma surged again on the tough Polly Shorts.

It was a race move that took him to victory as he entered the Scottsville racecourse to cross the line victorious in 5:25:00, missing the course record by just 11 seconds. Moselakwe finished in 2nd, only 45 seconds behind whilst Lafebo hung on for 3rd and Manyedi 4th, giving the Nedbank running club a 1-2-3-4 across the line.

“I knew I was in the shape of my life after going to Kenya and really focussing there for 6 weeks in preparation for this race so the victory means a lot to me,” said Wiersma after crossing the line. “It does hurt a little to just miss out on the course record, but in those last 7kms I was really cramping, and it concerned me that if I pushed a little harder, the cramps could totally end my race and the victory for me was more important than the course record.”

Nedbank running club’s Alex Milne came from far behind with a late surge to pick up a coveted gold medal finish with his 9th place finish. Dijana battled over the last 7km with cramps and hung on for 14th. “It was an unbelievable showing once again today by the Nedbank green dream team at Comrades and we could not be prouder of the athletes results today,” said Nick Bester, National team manager of the Nedbank running club. “I won’t lie and say at one stage I was very nervous when the Russian guy Bersenev led by 9 minutes far into the 2nd half of the race, but the guys ran a smart race and did not let others dictate how they run it and the first 4 men across the line in our team showed that.”

The Nedbank men also won the coveted elite men’s team prize courtesy of Moselakwe, Manyedi, Dijana and Motihibi. The club also saw first South African over the line Moselakwe, first novice in the form of Lafebo, 1st male 40+ with Manyedi as well as Wayne Spies dominating the 50+ category.

In the ladies’ race, Nedbank running club’s Catriona Jennings and Dominika Stelmach ran brave races in what was a very fast women’s race to finish 7th and 9th, both running times that before the 2019 up run would have won many Comrades Marathon’s. The ladies team consisting of Deanne Laubscher, Slindile Chili, Michelle Dykman and Taryn Snyman also won the elite team prize and whilst the 40+ team prize went to the Nedbank running club Central Gauteng combination of Jeannie Henderson, Ilse Marias, Boipelo Orekeng and Christelle Pretorious.

The 40+ podium was a clean sweep by the Nedbank running club with Jennings, Stelmach and Czech athlete Petra Pastorova rounding off the podium in an incredible 6:29:28. One stand out performance of the day must surely go to visually impaired runner Michelle Spies who ran an amazing 7:34, without being assisted along the way.

“We said it before that the Nedbank running club was coming to Durban to paint the streets green again like we have done in the past 3 Comrades and we did that yet again,” said Bester. “It would not be possible at all without the athletes, our amazing sponsors and all of the helpers in the team that make this team more than a club.”