ELITE RACE
George Kusche finished a satisfied 12th in his debut Comrades Marathon in 2025
BY GEORGE!
Ask the pundits who they consider a‘ dark horse’ to get a top 10 gold medal in this year’ s men’ s race, and the name of George Kusche comes up again and again. – BY TATHE MSIMANGO
Having finished 12th in his debut Comrades in 2025, and posted some really good wins and results over the past few years, it is little wonder that one of the names being touted as a potential top contender in 2026 is George Kusche.
Last year, he delivered an impressive performance, clocking 5:41:23 and narrowly missing the gold medal positions by just two minutes and 24 seconds, but he admits that his first attempt at the world’ s largest ultra-marathon was a huge challenge.“ Comrades is probably the toughest race I have ever done in my career,” he says candidly.
“ It came as weird and challenging at the same time. I didn’ t know what to expect, and I didn’ t know much about how to approach it for the first time. I was running for the sake of finishing the race. At one stage, my legs were tired and I had to slow down a bit, and I think that’ s where I lost track in terms of coming into the top 10. I’ m not sad, though, as it was my first time running the race. I treated it as a learning curve,” he says.
Great Form This Year
A year later, it is not surprising that many consider Kusche a top contender. Besides his great debut last year at Comrades, this year he has demonstrated exceptional form, including a remarkable victory in the Biogen 21km in Johannesburg with a time of 1:05:32. He then took the win in the Balwin Marathon Series Peninsula Marathon in Cape Town, achieving an outstanding time of 2:15:02 despite challenging windy conditions.
In his final preparatory race before the Comrades Marathon, Kusche led the pack against strong Kenyan competitors in the Totalsports Two Oceans Half Marathon, ultimately finishing fourth overall and first South African in an impressive 1:04:11. It is therefore no surprise that the competitive 27-year-old with an incredible running CV, including a sub-four-minute mile on the track, is now considered such a hot pick for the 2026 Comrades Marathon, and Kusche says he welcomes being ranked among the favourites, but stresses that his main focus is on managing pressure on race day. cross-country and eventually to road running.“ I started running in High School, where I was a good 800m runner. Then I got a scholarship to study in the United States of America, where I ended up focusing more on the 800m and 1500m distances,” explains the man who graduated from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln with a degree in Actuarial Science.
However, it was not all well with his running.“ As much as I did well, I actually stopped running for a year after university, as I simply lost interest in the sport. Then I started again when the passion ignited. I contacted Nick Bester at the Nedbank Running Club and said I was interested in joining his club, and I have not looked back. I started doing 10km and 21km events on the road, and the performances were coming, which motivated me to keep going. Now, I’ m back to doing what I enjoy most, which is running,” says Kusche.
With the 2026 Comrades Marathon being an Up Run, Kusche believes things will be different this time around, as he says he has more strength on the hills. He is thus optimistic that he can utilise this to his advantage as he targets an exceptional performance.
“ I think with Comrades going up this year, it is a bit of an advantage for me,” he says.“ I train on hilly courses in Pretoria, which I find enjoyable, and I’ m stronger on the uphills than on the downs. I know my strengths and weaknesses, so I need to use that to my advantage.”
“ So, it is possible that I could have a better run than last year because it is an Up Run, plus I have better knowledge of the route. If I do obtain a gold, it would be a wonderful performance, but again, I’ m not thinking about that too much. Just to finish well is the primary objective for now.”
“ I know people are talking a lot about me, but I’ m trying not to think about it,” he says, when asked about being regarded as one of the leading contenders.“ It is welcoming to hear that people have faith in me, but the main goal for me is to have a good race, especially as I’ m going to tackle the Up Run for the first time.”
Kusche adds,“ Comrades is another ballgame, and I’ m still learning a lot in terms of approaching the long-distance running. It’ s going to take some time, and I must allow the process. So, I don’ t want to put myself under unnecessary pressure. If I obtain a gold medal, it would be a huge achievement, because it is every athlete’ s dream to achieve such when competing in the Comrades. Overall, I don’ t want to overthink things, but rather focus on having a good race.”
Quite the Pedigree
Kusche’ s name may now be gaining widespread recognition in ultra-running circles, but he has undergone a thorough athletic development, progressing from track to
George with the frontrunners in 2025, including 2024 winner Piet Wiersma, who he is sometimes mistaken for
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