I am Good for Comrades Top Five Finish - Madziva

Though an Up-Run novice, Hollywood’s Loveness is confident of a fantastic showing.

When Loveness Madziva says she is good for a top-five finish in Sunday’s Comrades Marathon, laughing her off as an overzealous novice would be an understandable reaction.

After all, the Comrades Up-Run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg is a beast of a course renowned for being unkind to upstarts. And for one who failed to finish the Down-Run last year, Madziva is a Comrades upstart alright.

Why then would she be confident as to even think of herself a potential top-five finisher in a race that has only ever seen a runner of her ilk – a black female – achieve that feat on a single occasion since women were allowed to participate in the Ultimate Human Race in 1975?

Confidence, that’s why. A self-belief is not borne of naivety but rather one that comes from having tested oneself over a long period and realising just what one is truly capable of. Confidence that comes from a consistently golden track record at the country’s second-toughest – and some would actually argue THE toughest – ultra-marathon.

Madziva has finished in the top ten of the Two Oceans Marathon – the 56km Mother City ultra – in the last four editions. And though shorter than Comrades, Two Oceans is a much more challenging race that requires one to run at a much higher pace than the KwaZulu-Natal ultra to succeed.

When she finished third behind the incomparable multiple record-breaker Gerda Steyn and second-placed Irvette Van Zyl in April, the Hollywood Athletics Club runner did so with a run so compellingly brave – she took it to her revered adversaries without fear – you had to be blind not to notice her talent.

The discerning road running fan would, however, have long been aware of Madziva’s Two Oceans Marathon exploits as well as her overall potential that she showed from years back and would thus not find her predictions for Sunday’s race unrealistic.

The runner herself knows she has it in her to do well on her Comrades Up-Run debut. The experience from trying out last year’s Down-Run will come in handy, she says.

“Since I raced Two Oceans, I see that my speed is good,” the Zimbabwe-born athlete who is based in KwaZulu-Natal says “If I can reach Comrades with this speed still in my legs, I will be good for a top-five finish. At last year’s Comrades, I was inside the top ten but I bailed out at 66km. I did not have enough mileage. It was my first time and I had I registered for the Comrades two weeks before. I just told my husband I want to run and test the route to see how these ladies run Comrades. I ran with Gerda until 12 kilometres and by halfway I was still number four. But then I started to feel pain at 52 kilometres and I decided that I don’t want to damage myself, that’s why I pulled out.”

She is all the wiser and stronger for that experience and that much was proven by her fantastic Two Oceans run in which she finished in 3:38:00, a good 18 minutes quicker than her previous Personal best in the race.

Proof that she is in great shape came a little under a month later when she finished third at the tough Mangosuthu 52km Ultra which she was using as a training run for Comrades but completed in 3:22:38. And she is confident going into Sunday’s race that she will be competitive. She is not afraid of Comrades like she used to be.

“I used to be scared I was scared of Comrades. I used to wonder, where will I get the power to run 90km at a pace of under five minutes per kilometre? But I put myself out there last year and this year I am not scared. I am not worried.”

She credits her coach Mdu Khumalo for this positive change in outlook.

“All I want to say is ‘thank you’ to my coach Mdu Khumalo. He said to me ‘You Loveness, you are a strong runner, but your mind is still scared of the other runners’. He told me that I need to not be afraid of ‘fighting’ the other runners. He said I need to get stronger mentally. And he helped me with his coaching and gave me confidence that I can compete.”

Khumalo made her aware that the other athletes, like Steyn, ‘also feel the pain like I do’ but they start a race strong and finish it even stronger because they are mentally positive. It will thus be with a great sense of self-belief and a readiness to suffer but persevere that Madziva lines up at the Durban City Hall early Sunday morning, sure she will be among the first five female runners to get into the Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg.

As she reflects on her career she is grateful that she has stood her ground, stuck to her guns and refused to be bullied into doing Comrades when she was not ready.

“I went back to Nedbank Running Club in 2017 after having a bay and they pressured me into doing ultras saying ‘If you want a contract, you must do Two Oceans’.  I did. But then Nick (Bester, the Club’s Manager) wanted me to run Comrades. I was scared and I told him that I was too young and asked that we wait until I was 30. He did not renew my contract and that’s when I left the club.”

She is glad she did not allow herself to be rushed into the monster ultra until she herself felt she was ready. And she is excitedly anticipating her debut run on Sunday, confident that she will be competitive enough to fight for the higher gold medal positions.

And that is not novice overzealousness.