Posted: June 17, 2004

Athletics: Vladimir Kotov Scores A Comrades Triple

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Riel Hauman

Comrades Ultramarathon (79th) - Durban to Pietermaritzburg, RSA; Wednesday, June 16
Distance: 86.75 km. Certified point-to-point course, 670 m elevation gain. Weather: cool at the start, warming up later

The clock showed 4:02 and the climb up the dreaded Polly Shortts hill 8 km from the finish was still an hour away when novice Comrades runner Hlonepha Mphulanyane made the first significant surge of the race. It was to no avail and in the end the tough-as-nails Belorussian Vladimir Kotov (46) prevailed once again to become the first man since Bruce Fordyce to win three Comrades and also the oldest winner in the history of the world’s biggest ultramarathon.

Kotov’s mastery as a hill runner gave him the edge and he ran across the “new” finish line in 5:31:22, holding up three fingers and smiling broadly. He has now won the last three “up” runs – a feat last achieved by Fordyce in 1990. The race was 550 metres shorter than when he set the current up record of 5:25:33 in 2000. He won the 2002 up run (86.55 km) in 5:30:59.

In the women’s race Elena Nurgalieva slashed Ann Trason’s 1996 record by more than 2 minutes to 6:11:15, but this time the Nurgalieva juggernaut was not as dominant as in last year’s Comrades and the 2004 Two Oceans. Twin sister Olesya, second in both those races, could manage only fourth.

South Africa’s main hope for victory, Farwa Mentoor, ran a superb race – if perhaps a little too aggressive in the middle stages – to finish third in 6:18:23, the fastest ever for a South African on the up run.

Although three women ducked under 6:20 for the first time in history, and the five under 6:30 is also an up run record, the overall depth of the women’s field was not as good as in 2000, when the last gold medal went in 6:57:41. This time 7:12:23 was sufficient to finish tenth.

Five SA women and six men achieved golds, with the first local man being Willie Mtolo in fourth. Mphulanyane hung on to finish seventh as first novice, while Andrew Kelehe won his eighth consecutive gold. Kelehe (fifth) and Jaroslaw Janicki (second), both previous “down” run winners, did exceptionally well after they had not been given a chance beforehand.
But the day belonged to the iron-willed Kotov, who was struck by injury last year and could finish only 22nd.

He dismissed the age factor before the race. “Young people want quick results,” he said. “They want to make quick money and are too impatient. Old people are just normal people.”

At 46 (b. 21 Feb. 1958) he is the oldest Comrades winner ever, beating the previous record of five-time winner Wally Hayward, who won the 1954 race 28 days before his 46th birthday. Kotov was fourth in the 1980 Olympic Marathon and moved to South Africa with his family after his 2000 Comrades victory. He has acquired permanent resident status.
He was part of a large group of 29 runners who bided their time until after the sun came up over the Indian Ocean (the race started half an hour earlier than in the past, making the first 35-odd kilometres, in which the competitors have to climb 747 m to the top of Botha’s Hill, an even more difficult task in the darkness). After almost 3 hours of running Frans Moyo was leading by 2:30.

Moyo reached halfway in 2:46, but came to a stop soon thereafter and Kebonemodisa Modisenyane took over. All the main contenders were in the chasing group with Kotov: Oleg Kharitonov, Walter Nkosi, Mtolo, Joseph Ikaneng, Jorge Aubeso Martinez, Mphulanyane, Mluleki Nobanda, Kelehe and Janicki.

The chasers sped up considerably after 3 hours and with the clock at 3:40 they were just 1:56 behind the leader, with Zamile Gebashe in second place 27 seconds behind Modisenyane. Gebashe was caught just more than five minutes later and then the real racing started.

The relentless pace took Kotov and his group, now whittled down to eight, into the lead at 3:55:30. Nobanda and Martinez had been shed and at Camperdown, 63 km into the race, world 100-mile record holder Kharitonov, Ikaneng and Mphulanyane moved away from the others. Two minutes later came Mphulanyane’s surge and he moved into the sole lead.
It was short-lived, however. The rest caught him and at 4:10 Kharitonov, who was second last year, tried his own surge. In an interview before the race he said that the serious injuries suffered by his training partner Denis Zhalybin in a car accident just a week before the Comrades had affected his plans because they had planned to run together.

Whatever his mental state, Kharitonov went for broke and clearly wanted to get away to have some advantage over Kotov when they reached Polly Shortts, the massive 2 km long hill which has so often decided the outcome of the race.

Kotov reacted almost immediately and at 70 km he and Janicki caught Kharitonov. Kelehe (“This year I am the underdog; they think I am a down runner,” he said) was looking very strong and was only 22 seconds behind the leading trio. Mtolo, Ikaneng and Mphulanyane followed.

But then came “Polly’s”, as the hill is popularly known. The outcome was almost inevitable and long before the top Kotov was away. With his characteristic head-down style and grimace, Kotov powered up the hill and reached the top, with 8 km to go, in 5:02:50.
When he set the record in 2000 he ran the last 10 km in 34:05 (3:25 pace); now the last 8 km took him 28:32 (3:34 pace), but he was not chasing the record this time. Once again poor crowd control about 6 km from the finish almost led to disaster when spectators – with their backs to the runners! – walked in front of him, while others hindered him from the sidelines and the leading traffic officers on their motorcycles were riding blissfully unaware a couple of metres ahead of him instead of alongside.

A very tired Kotov reached the Oval in Alexandra Park – where 26 of the 40 up runs have finished, but none since 1954 – and slumped to the ground before he could deliver the traditional mayoral message. But he was soon revived and said: “My family and I are very happy. I waited for Polly Shortts, I knew I could beat Kharitonov and Janicki there.”
Mtolo, who was second in 1989 and 2002, came through for fourth, while Martinez (fourth in 2003) recovered from a bad patch to win his third successive gold medal.

Mentoor caught the Russian twins and Marina Bychkova at 3:55 into the race, with Tatiana Zhyrkova in fifth but more than 5 minutes behind. Half an hour later Bychkova dropped back, while Mentoor was confidently tracking the Nurgalievas.

Soon it became apparent that Olesya was struggling and at 4:40 her sister moved away, with Mentoor, who was the first South African the last two years, following. Twenty minutes later Bychkova had recovered and passed Olesya. She started to chase Mentoor, whose rhythm seemed to be gone.

Less than half an hour later, with Polly’s looming, the South African fell victim to the hard-driving Bychkova, who has never been out of the top six in her five Comrades runs (third in the last up run). Bychokova looked the freshest of the first five, but she could make no inroads in Elena’s lead and finished 2:58 behind for the third fastest up run time in history.
Three-time winner and defending champion Maria Bak was never in contention, but finished a strong sixth for her eighth gold medal.

MEN (Equal prize money for men and women; R1 = $0.15)
1. Vladimir Kotov BLR (40+) 5:31:22 R175,000
2. Jaroslaw Janicki POL 5:34:17 90,000
3. Oleg Kharitonov RUS 5:39:08 60,00
4. Willie Mtolo RSA (40+) 5:39:56 30,000+
5. Andrew Kelehe RSA 5:42:34 20,000
6. Joseph Ikaneng RSA 5:43:03 12,000^
7. Hlonepha Mphulanyane RSA 5:44:10 11,000
8. Jorge Aubeso Martinez ESP 5:45:34 10,000
9. Johan Oosthuizen RSA 5:46:07 9000
10. Jacob Madima RSA 5:48:31 8000
11. Peterson Khumalo RSA 5:51:51
12. Harmans Mokgadi RSA 5:54:28
13. Andrey Yaroslavtsev RUS 5:54:39
14. Elias Mabane RSA 5:56:31
15. Moyahabo Malatji RSA 5:57:09
16. Claude Moshiywa RSA 5:58:18
17. Moses Lebakeng RSA 5:59:59
18. Victor Ngubelanga RSA 5:59:59
19. Mohlala Mohloli RSA 6:01:55
20. Lucas Nonyana RSA 6:02:13
21. Kebonemodisa Modisenyane RSA 6:02:49
22. Isaac Tshabalala RSA 6:03:00
23. Charles van der Walt RSA 6:04:24
24. Bhekameva Xaba RSA 6:04:53
25. Michael Scout RSA 6:05:06
… 31. Motsile Mpotoane RSA 6:10:58
… 33. Peter Camenzind SUI (50+) 6:11:12
… 35. Frans Chauke RSA 6:11:55
… 43. Nick Bester RSA 6:16:27
… 57. Johannes Kekana RSA 6:23:42
58. Igor Tyupin RUS 6:24:06
… 87. Zamile Gebashe RSA 6:37:02
… 105. Adam Motlagale RSA 6:42:44

+ Also won a solid gold statuette worth R64,000 as first South African
^ Also won R25,000 as the first gold medalist through halfway

WOMEN
1. Elena Nurgalieva RUS 6:11:15 CR*#
2. Marina Bychkova RUS 6:14:13^
3. Farwa Mentoor RSA 6:18:23+
4. Olesya Nurgalieva RUS 6:20:32
5. Tatiana Zhyrkova RUS 6:28:02
6. Maria Bak GER (40+) 6:30:44
7. Yolande Maclean RSA 6:45:40
8. Grace de Oliveira RSA (40+) 6:46:59
9. Renée Scott RSA (40+) 6:56:28
10. Riana van Niekerk RSA 7:12:23
11. Lelanie van Zyl RSA 7:12:56
12. Louise Oosthuizen RSA 7:15:51
13. Helene Joubert RSA 7:17:39
14. Mene Olivier RSA 7:20:02
15. Elizabeth Draper RSA 7:27:22
16. Sarah Mahlangu RSA 7:34:10
17. Lindsay van Aswegen RSA 7:34:38
18. Salome Castelyn RSA 7:35:09
19. Cordula Moeller GER 7:42:14
20. Michelle Stewart RSA 7:43:46
… 25. Tilda Krugmann RSA 7:52:16
26. Johanna Claassen RSA 7:53:11
… 28. Esme Koopman RSA 7:55:30
… 33. Blanche Moila RSA 8:03:01
… 35. Karen Little RSA 8:04:08
… 40. Rentia Denissen RSA 8:11:03
… 45. Lorraine Rogers RSA 8:14:37

* Course record, previous: 6:13:23, Ann Trason USA, 1996 (86.7 km)
# Also won a solid gold statuette worth R256,000 for a course record
^ Also won R25,000 as the first gold medalist through halfway
+ Also won a solid gold statuette worth R64,000 as first South African