FILE. Gerda Steyn, aiming for her fifth Comrades Marathon title, showed with a training run on Wednesday that her easy pace would be good enough to secure silver medal at the historic event. Picture: Henk Kruger / Independent Media
Image: HENK_KRUGER
By now, every Comrades Marathon will be seriously dialling back the mileage and intensity of the big day, and women’s race favourite Gerda Steyn is no exception.
The difference is, Steyn’s ‘easy run’ pace is good enough to win a silver medal at the ultra marathon.
On Wednesday, Steyn completed a 16.12km run at a 4:31 per km pace. The title for her run was 'EZ 16km'.
At Comrades, runners who run under 7:30 earn a silver medal and the pace required is roughly 5:11 minutes per km athletes need to maintain or better.
On this year’s 85.77km route, a pace of 4:31 would work out to a finish time of 6:24.
Steyn, meanwhile, will likely be targeting an average pace of better than 4:01 per km, which on the route would improve her up run record (5:49:46) she set in 2024.
Earlier this week, Steyn posted a video on Facebook alongside a group of other fast men’s runners, including fellow Comrades champions Tete Dijana (2022, 2023, 2025) and Edward Mothibi (2019).
Pictured along a sand road, the 40-second clip showed the runners going through their paces, starting out slowly before working up to full race speed.
The video ends with a few photos, including Steyn sharing a lighter moment with her peers.
Steyn recently returned from France last week and completed her first run back in Tshwane on Thursday.
Putting her Alpine training behind her, Steyn has been sharing her experiences on her return to Dullstroom.
Steyn will be bidding for her fifth Comrades Marathon title when she lines up at Durban City Hall in 11 days’ time.
Not long after Steyn won this year’s Two Oceans Marathon, it was off to France to begin the short training block between the two races.