Farwa Mentoor showed once again why she is rated the country’s top ultra-marathon runner, when she finished the 2007 Comrades Marathon as the first South African woman home.
Mentoor, running in the colours of Harmony Athletics Club, finished fourth overall behind a trio of foreigners in a time of 6:24:38, after the women’s race was won by Russian Olesya Nurgalieva in a time of 6:10:11.
Olesya, having finished second twice before, beat off a strong challenge from her twin sister Elena, who was chasing her fourth Comrades title, to win by 29 seconds.
The twin sisters, who competed for the Harmony International team, ran in tandem for most of the race, and dominated the course from start to finish.
Another Russian, Madina Biktigirova came in third, finishing more than 10 minutes behind the winner, and Marina Myshlyanova, also from Russia, completed the top five.
The second South African woman home was Yolande Maclean (Mr Price Running Club – CG) in a time of 6:29:55 in seventh place overall, and first to the finish line in her 20-29 age-group category.
Adinda Kruger (Harmony AC) finished as the third South African home in a time of 6:38:39 in ninth place overall.
Scooping the final gold medal in tenth place overall was the fourth South African to finish, Grace De Oliveira (Mr Price), in a time of 6:57:37.
Pre-race contender Riana van Niekerk’s (Mr Price) chances were dealt an untimely blow, when she came down with flu shortly before the race.
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