90 kilometers of running in a time of 9 hours, 26 minutes and 10 seconds and all that at the age of 81: Johannes Maros Mosehla dit it, as the South African runner finished the Comrades Marathon, which is very well known in South Africa – and far beyond. Last year, Mosehla also participated and finished in 11:33, but now the elderly man was considerably faster at the ultrarun.
Completing a 90km ultrarun is impressive anyway, even more when you are 81 years old. All the more impressive is the average pace at which Maros Mosehla completed the Comrades Marathon: 6:28 minutes per kilometer. “My body feels okay, only my legs are sore,” he said a day after the race. Striking detail: Maros Mosehla only started running at the age of 60 and hopes to race again next year and he wants to improve his time then once again. “You shouldn’t look at your age, but what your body can still do,” he said.
The Comrades Marathon has been organized since 1921 and is a tribute to the South African soldiers who lost their lives during World War I. The 90-kilometer race has two variations: each year the start and finish locations at Pietermaritzburg and Durban are reversed. As a result, you have an uphill and a downhill edition. This year’s run was mainly downhill, which means Maros Mosehla will face a considerably bigger challenge improving his time next year.
In this year’s edition, nearly 93 percent of the more than 16,000 runners made it to the finish line of the Comrades Marathon. It is the highest percentage of finishers in the event’s history.
