I felt I was carried by people screaming for me, says record-breaking Gerda

Gerda Steyn paid tribute to the crowds for lifting her to a historic Comrades Marathon victory on Sunday, as she smashed the 34-year-old best mark for the Down Run.

Steyn clocked 5 hr 44 min 54 sec to take nearly 10 full minutes off the extraordinary mark set by Frith van der Merwe in 1989.

“I felt I was being carried by people screaming and shouting for me, that definitely made the load feel [easier].

“The support I received, not only today but every day, I can’t put it in words,” said Steyn, who smiled, waved and blew kisses at fans who lined the 87.701km route from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.

“It felt today like I had an entire country screaming my name from start to finish. I can’t say in words how that made me feel.

“I wanted to run today, not just for me but for everyone who’s watching and everyone who’s perhaps been inspired by this, because I wanted them to see that running is just awesome and that we’ve got the Comrades Marathon here in our country is huge and it’s magic.

“And so I run in that way and I acknowledge the crowds and I want to inspire them to become part of this.”

Steyn now owns the four top women’s distance records in the country — marathon, Two Oceans and the Comrades Up and Down. She said she was planning on improving them all.

But in the build-up to Sunday’s race she insisted she was prioritising the victory over the record, though she admitted afterwards that everything had worked out perfectly for her on the day.

“I woke up feeling good and I was dreaming about this day for such a long time. And the day I wake up knowing I’ve done the preparation — the training and waking up and it was beautiful weather — so I felt like it was all lined up for a good time.

“But still I didn’t want to talk too much about the record. I didn’t want it to [distract] me from my main goal of winning the race.

“And the Comrades, it’s long, you can’t think about these times.

“But of course I wanted to produce the best result I could as an athlete. And that meant today it was the record. It went according to plan and for that I’m very, very grateful.”

Mother-of-two Adele Broodryk, who improved her podium position from third to second after crossing the line in 5:56:26, also feasted on the crowd support, especially from her children and husband Retief.

“Having those two little ones again at the finish line and having them along the route this year made it extra special, just giving me that extra bit of energy so you know it’s those little moments in life that mean the most.”

She admitted that at one point she had to pay more attention to the race.

“At one point Duncan [Gerda Steyn’s husband] said to me: ‘You should start focusing now’.

“I think I was having too much fun. I stopped and high-fived my children and rest of the children on that side I high-fived.

“But that’s also how I engage and I just go on that energy from the crowd. That’s what fuels me so much.

“And then one point I’m just, ‘OK, let’s focus now’, because I saw I am also on the record pace. It was so much fun. From the get-go, I loved it.”

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