FILE. George Kusche produced a stunning breakthrough run to win the Comrades Marathon men’s race in record time in the up run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg on Sunday. Picture: Action Photo
Image: Action Photo
George Kusche reeled off a stunning breakthrough performance to win the Comrades Marathon men’s race from Durban to Pietermaritzburg on Sunday.
Kusche crossed the line in a record up time of 5:15:56 after a perfectly paced run in which he only took the lead with less than an hour to go of the race. With a 2:13 marathon personal best (PB), Kusche has made the perfect progression to emerge triumphant in the Ultimate Human Race.
Piet Wiersma was second 5:19:36, with Mbuti Mollo taking third in 5:21:31.
Mollo held the lead after halfway until 68km when he first started walking, though the rest was brief until he started running again - the signs were there that he was battling to keep moving.
Around the 60km mark, Mollo had around a seven-minute lead but with 18.4km to go that gap had withered to 1:41 with George Kusche closing fast.
Kusche had surged ahead of the chasing pack, and at that point had opened a two-minute gap between himself and chasers including former champions Piet Wiersma and Edward Mothibi.
Finally, at the 4:37 mark Kusche came flying past Mollo with just over 10km to go.
From that point, Kusche was unstoppable as he powered to victory.
Coming into the race, the men’s field has no clear favourite, promising a thrilling, unpredictable battle. Defending up-run champion Piet Wiersma (who won the 2024 up-run and fought a fierce battle in 2025) was set to face immense pressure from three-time champion Tete Dijana. Alongside them, former champion Edward Mothibi, Russian contender Nikolai Volkov, and the ever-consistent Joseph Manyedi are all fully capable of pulling off a historic victory.
Kusche himself was also set to feature strongly, but was not necessarily one of the favourites as he only recently transitioned from track to marathon running.