The Comrades Marathon Association has confirmed that two runners in this year’s ultra-marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban have died.
The association says in a statement that Mzamo Mthembu had a heart attack while running in Pinetown. He was taken to the Westville Hospital, where he later died.
The race doctor, Jeremy Boulter, says details of the second incident are unknown.
The association says Phakamisa Ntshiza got into difficulty close to the halfway mark at Drummond and died before he could be transported to hospital.
Comrades Marathon Association Chairperson Mqondisi Ngcobo on the passing away of two runners :
On Monday, the top runners and top teams attended a champions’ prize-giving ceremony in Durban.
Russian athlete Alexandra Morozova was handed her champion gold trophy and prize money for being the first woman in. Morozova was at the eleventh hour allowed to participate in the 2022 Comrades Marathon after succeeding with an urgent court interdict.
This was after the Comrade Marathon Association implemented a last-minute directive from the World Athletics not to allow Russian athletes to compete, due to the country’s doping ban and its invasion of Ukraine.
“I was very upset from the beginning but my position is that I am an individual athlete and I am not representing Russia or the international…but as an individual athlete,” says Female Comrades Marathon champion Alexandra Morozova.
VIDEO: Tete Morena and Alexandra Morozova win Comrades Marathon
