Defending champion Stephen Muzhingi was oozing confidence on the eve of the 86th Comrades Marathon, while his counterpart on the women's side, Elena Nurgalieva, was far more conservative in her predictions.
Muzhingi, who won the ‘down' run for the last two years, said he was confident of breaking the men‘s record for the ‘up' run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg on Sunday.
The Zimbabwean was “aiming for five hour and 24 minutes“, which would challenge the record of 5:24.49 set by Leonid Shvetsov of Russia in 2008.
“I don't put pressure on myself anymore and I'm going to run my own race,” Muzhingi said on Friday.
“It's a matter of dealing with distance and time, rather than people, and I'm not going to run anyone else's race.”
Nurgalieva, who has dominated the women's race in recent years, along with twin sister Olesya, said her sights were set on a sixth win, but she had no plans to chase her own course record (6:09.24) set in 2006.
“Every time I come to South Africa for the Comrades Marathon, I hope for victory, or even for position two, but I never think about the record,” said the Russian title holder.
“It depends on how fast the other girls run, the conditions on the day, and how well you slept the night before.
“There are a lot of things that must go right if we are to break the record.”
A new breed of foreign athletes were paraded in front of the media, but the South African contingent remained confident they could reclaim top honours in the gruelling 89km race.
Matshipa looked to be in control, but Muzhingi's experience showed and he stole clear with 14km remaining to win the 87km ultra-marathon in 5:32.45.
Muzhingi, who won the 'down' run the last two years, secured his maiden victory in the 'up' run to become the first athlete to win three titles in succession since Bruce Fordyce bagged his eighth straight win in 1988.
Matshipa, who was fifth last year, struggled over Polly Shortts, the last of the race's five big hills, but held on to cross the line in 5:34.29.
Another South African, Claude Moshiywa, who had faded to seventh last year after taking the early lead, ran a much wiser race to finish third in 5:42.05, holding off Jonas Buud of Sweden by 39 seconds.
The Nurgalieva twins took the lead from the start, and while Elena took a tumble 27km into the race, she recovered quickly to catch her sister and they gradually stretched the gap over South African Farwa Mentoor.
Elena broke away in the dying stages to win in 6:24.11 - the slowest winning time in the women's race since 1999 - and Olesya finished in second position, 14 seconds behind her sibling.
Mentoor, the first South African woman to finish, struggled in the last third of the race, and was passed by American Kami Semick and Ellie Greenwood of Great Britain, but held on to take fifth place in 6:35.49.
South African runners filled seven of the top 10 positions in the men's race, and four of the top 10 places in the women's category.
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