ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Awards

MODERN ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Ultra Distances – Beyond 42.2km

Tete Dijana faced some stiff competition in this category , but the nod had to go his way thanks to two stellar performances in 2023 . He comfortably won the Nedbank Runified 50km in February , crossing the line in 2:39:04 to break Stephen Mokoka ’ s World Record for the distance . ( The World Record has subsequently been improved again .) That set the tone for Tete ’ s record-breaking run at the Comrades Marathon , where he made it two wins in two consecutive years and posted the fastest ever recorded time for the Down Run between Pietermaritzburg and Durban , clocking 5:13:58 , which equates to an average pace of 3:35 / km . It was one of the toughest Comrades to win in many a year , as second-place Dutchman Piet Wiersema finished just three seconds behind him .

“ I am so happy to win this award , and when I look back at the year I had , that 50km in Gqeberha showed me that I was going to break the Comrades record , and gave me confidence ,” says Tete . “ Myself , Slender ( Edward Mothibi ) and Joseph Manyedi had a plan , but later on , we saw that Piet was trying to break away from us , so I said to the other guys , we need to chase him . I had to push so hard to break from him , and I knew I was inside the record , so just wanted to relax and go into cruising for the last five kilometres , but he was not giving me any chance to do that !”

Later in the year , Tete also ran the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon , finishing 10th in 2:13:24 , and he says , “ I think I would have been even faster if it was not so windy , because during the 50km race , I passed the marathon mark in 2:12 . The thing is , Sanlam came too soon for me , because Comrades was still in my legs – If I could have run it around December , I think I could have run it better . I actually wanted to try qualify for the Olympics , but I ’ m going to focus on Comrades . Edward is the defending champion on the Up Run , but I ’ m the reigning champion , so my plan is to defend and to hold the titles Up and Down .”

Adele Broodryk Carla Molinaro Gerda Steyn

After smashing her own Two Oceans record in 2023 and becoming the fastest ever woman in the Comrades marathon , there really was only one choice here , and that is Gerda Steyn . She started the year by winning the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon title in style , crossing the line in 3:29:04 to smash her own course record from 2022 by 41 seconds . She also became the second runner to win the Cape Town classic four times , alongside Monica Drögemöller , but the first to do it in consecutive editions of the race .

Fast forward to June and Gerda was in indomitable form as she romped to the win in the Comrades Marathon , clocking 5:44:54 to take just under 10 minutes off the longstanding best Down Run time , the 5:54:43 run by Frith van der Merwe in 1989 . Granted , Frith did run 1.899km further , but Gerda averaged 3:57 / km to Frith ’ s 3:58 . The cherry on top was Gerda ’ s final race of the year , when she lowered her own SA Marathon record to 2:24:03 in Valencia , but that is covered in another section of these awards .

“ I am really honoured to be the winner of the Modern Athlete of the Year Awards in both the Marathon and Ultra Distance categories . Thank you so much for all who supported me throughout the past year !” says Gerda . “ 2023 was one of the most exciting years in my athletics career to date , and it is really special when all the hard work gets rewarded . Congratulations to all the other winners !”

“ South African female athletes have been on the rise for a while now and I think that we are seeing the most competitive level of performances ever , especially in the marathon distance . I hope to see a continuous growth in our sport , and also personally to keep improving in both the marathon as well as ultra-marathon distances ,” she adds .

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