Having watched Gerda Steyn obliterate her long-standing Two Oceans Marathon record back in April, Frith van der Merwe was resigned to seeing the SA marathon record-holder emulate her by also breaking the Comrades Marathon Down Run mark this month.
But with Steyn opting to sit out the KwaZulu-Natal ultra-marathon next Sunday (August 28) in favour of running the New York Marathon in November, Van der Merwe’s second record appears safe.
Back in 1989, Van der Merwe cemented her standing as an SA road running legend by setting the records of both the “World’s Most Beautiful Marathon” (Two Oceans) and “The Ultimate Human Race” (Comrades).
It was an incredible feat, one that changed the life of the Benoni schoolteacher forever. Not that Van der Merwe had envisaged her records standing for as long as they have.
“I honestly didn’t think they would last for such a long time,” Van der Merwe says during an interview at her home. “Sure, I knew I had run great times, but I thought there were some good runners who would do better.”
She admits though that she was pleased to see the records surviving even through the emergence of full-time runners and internationals coming to the country.
“The first three years after the record, I used to get very nervous. I even used to pray that they wouldn’t break it. But in time I got over that. So, as the years went by and we got to 10 years I was like, OK, this is good. But then we got to 20 years, I was like ‘wow’. And then when we got to 30, and it was just unbelievable.”
It was not unbelievable for Van der Merwe, however, when Steyn smashed her Two Oceans mark of 3:30:36 this year to set the new record at 3:29:42.
“I thought I would be more upset at the record being broken, but I wasn’t. I got over it easily because we can’t stop it from happening. I am glad it was broken by another South African. I have accepted it, I am fine with it,” she says, the repetition seeming like an effort in convincing the interviewer and herself she has really accepted it.
Everything went right that day. I had trained well, and I was in peak fitness. I loved running so much and I couldn’t wait for Comrades. I was not nervous at all, I was looking forward to the race.
— Frith van der Merwe on her 1989 Comrades win
Perhaps her acceptance came easier given that Steyn had threatened to break the Two Oceans record back in 2019 when she missed it by 53 seconds. But Van der Merwe says Steyn’s 42.2km time was an indication she would break the record, even the Comrades one.
“Gerda has the credentials to break the Comrades record as well. She knows the distance and she has shown that by setting that Up Run record. I have always said that if someone is to break my record, they must run a faster marathon than what I ran. And Gerda did it, she ran a 2:25 while my PB [personal best] is a 2:27. So, her breaking the Two Oceans record was always on the cards.”
What does Van der Merwe remember of that incredible year and particularly that sub-six hour Comrades run (5:54:43) that saw her finish 15th overall, beating the second women by over an hour.
“Everything went right that day. I had trained well, and I was in peak fitness. I loved running so much and I couldn’t wait for Comrades. I was not nervous at all, I was looking forward to the race,” says the woman who had won the previous two editions of the about-90km run between the KZN cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
“I had gone to Durban two or three days before the race because I wanted to retain the altitude advantage. In the morning I was focused. I kept myself relaxed. Bruce Fordyce had taught me to write an R on my arm to remember to relax. There were men around me at the start, they admired me and wanted to be close to greet and run with Frith,” she chuckles “We joked around. I always go for a pee before the start, so I did that and then hydrated with water.”
Unlike most runners, Van der Merwe was not big on warming up.
“I simply loosened up. I was surprised later in the years to see the Russians doing so much running as a warm-up. You are still going to run 90km — why run so much?”
Her run was near-perfect, she says. But she did not foresee herself going under six hours.
“I knew I would get close to six hours. I thought maybe a 6:15 but not under six. But I knew I was running fast when I was passing those top men. I must say I was embarrassed to be passing them, but they were all great. They were saying. ‘Frith keep going, you are still looking great.’ It was very encouraging.”
The entire race was bliss for her, she recalls.
“I knew I was going fast, and some people on the road were telling me to slow down. But I was running well within myself. I was not overexerting my body. You will know that at Comrades the guy telling you to slow down could well be someone who has been drinking all morning,” she laughs. “Towards the end I was tired of course, that is Comrades. But I was not finished.”
The approach to Kingsmead was incredible.
“The people were cheering me on and that gave me a second wind, the Comrades crowd carries you, hey. Getting into the stadium was unbelievable. Chariots of Fire was playing and that song makes you feel like you are running on air.”
She was on air all right, Van der Merwe smashing Monica Droegemoller’s record to smithereens. The current running lot will find it hard to believe that Van der Merwe and her generation ran without support.
“I ran with no second. I drank whatever I found on the race tables — and they were very good. When I got sick and tired of Coke I would try crème soda or whatever other drink was there.”
She believes she would not have coped with having the kind of support the current runners enjoy now.
“I think having so many people supporting me would have added to the pressure. I would have felt I can’t let them down and that would have taken the fun from my running. After the record I stopped teaching for a while and ran full-time. I found it too boring, and it made me enjoy running less. That’s why I went back to teaching.”
Though her school has an event next weekend, Van der Merwe says she will make sure to watch the Comrades Marathon.
“I always watch Comrades and I am going to watch it. If Gerda is running, I think she has the chance to break it, though the fact that the Down Run now finishes a bit further [at the Moses Mabhida Stadium] than where we did, I think it will be a little harder for her to better my time.”
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