George Kusche Breaks 18-Year Comrades Up Run Record in 5:16

The gamble on Polly Shortts

George Kusche crossed the line at Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg in 5:15:56. The self-coached data scientist completed the 85.777km Up Run from Durban to break the 18-year course record of Leonid Shvetsov, who ran 5:24:49 in 2008. He took it down by almost nine minutes.

The race did not belong to him for most of the day. Mashau Rasogo shot into an early lead, then pulled up with cramps barely an hour in; Jobo Khatoane of Lesotho and Samuel Moloi of Phantane took turns at the front before Mbuti Mollo assumed a lead he held deep into the race. Kusche stayed patient, moving into second at 57km, still 4:25 behind Mollo. By 67km the gap had closed to under two minutes, and Mollo was struggling, weaving along the road.

Kusche took the lead with 10km to run, overtaking the walking Mollo, the last survivor of the early breakaway. He did it while managing a body in revolt. He overcame a stomach upset to hold his form through the closing stretch into Pietermaritzburg. The chase behind him only sharpened the achievement. Piet Wiersma of the Netherlands, the defending Up Run champion, finished second in 5:19:36, and Mbuti Mollo held on for third in 5:21:31. Great Britain's Alex Milne was fourth in 5:22:29 and Japan's Haruki Okayama fifth in 5:24:46; the top five men all beat Shvetsov's 2008 mark.

"That was the hardest thing I've ever done," said Kusche, who added that he committed early to a risky pace.

A track man on the long road

The victory reads as a breakthrough only if the trajectory is forgotten. Kusche, a data analyst from Pretoria, specialised as a 1,500m runner on the collegiate circuit while studying in the United States, then switched to road running a few years ago. The speed of the miler still lives in the endurance of the ultra. On his Comrades debut last year he finished 12th, sick around halfway, and still reached the line. He signalled his intent this season by winning the 42km Peninsula Marathon in tough conditions in Cape Town.

The margins tell the rest. Kusche, 27, earned more than R2 million across the prize categories, including a reward for a new fastest average pace record, breaking the 3:43.75 per kilometre set by Vladimir Kotov in 2000. This was only his second Comrades Marathon.

The road he chose as a boy on the track finally ran out at Pietermaritzburg. He was first to reach its end.