Russians set to steal Comrades show

The Russian runners look set to dominate - amongst the ladies - in this year's down run Comrades Marathon.

Ian Laxton from the Comrades Marathon Association says Elena Nurgalieva - who broke the up record last year - is virtually unstoppable. He predicts that South Africa's top female athlete Farwa Mentoor will come in around sixth place.

However, Laxton says there could well be a South African victory among the men in the 89.3km marathon.

Laxton says: "I think in the men's competition, you must look no further than the top two from last year. Oleg Kharitonov - who was second on the last down run - won last year. A very very strong Russian runner. South Africa's big hope Brian Zonde - second last year and a much stronger down runner. I think the winner will come from those two."

The Comrades Marathon is an ultramarathon run over a distance of approximately 90 km. It is run between the capital of the Kwazulu-Natal province, Pietermaritzburg, and the coastal city of Durban. The direction of the race alternates each year, alternating between the up run (about 87 km) starting from Durban and the down run (about 89km) starting from Pietermaritzburg.

The race was the idea of First World War veteran Vic Clapham, who wanted a living memorial to those South African soldiers killed in the war. Clapham, who had endured a 2 700-km march through sweltering German East Africa, wanted the memorial to be a unique test of the physical endurance of the entrants.