Fordyce backs Dijana to become sixth Comrades hat-trick winner

To win the Comrades Marathon is a special feat coveted by many but achieved by few.

Those who manage to hold onto their titles by winning the race run alternately up and down between the KwaZulu-Natal cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg are incredible athletes. A hat-trick is the preserve of legends.

Morena Tete Dijana will on Sunday's attempt to enter his name into Comrades folklore by joining the illustrious club of runners who have won the race in three successive years. He will line up for only his second up run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg — his first was back in 2019 as a novice when he finished 50th.

The Nedbank Running Club athlete has since become a two-time champion — winning both editions of the about-90km race, this year is 85.9km — since its return after a two-year Covid-19-induced hiatus in 2020 and 2021. The 2022 and 2023 editions were down runs because of roadworks to the N3 near Pietermaritzburg.

Dijana thus will line up at the Durban City Hall as one of the favourites to reach the finish at Scottsville Racecourse first as the up run makes its return.

Achieve that and Dijana will become only the sixth man to win the Comrades in three successive years. Everyone knows Bruce Fordyce — the Comrades king who won an incredible eight times in a row before skipping the 1989 race and then returning a year later for his ninth and last victory.

Other runners who have completed hat-tricks are Arthur Newton from 1922 to 1924 (he also won in 1925 and 1927), Dave Bagshaw from 1969 to 1971, Alan Robb from 1976 to 1978, and Stephen Muzhingi from 2009 to 2011.

While he would love to join those legends and has trained for that purpose, Dijana admits it will not be easy.

“The hat-trick is not simple — it is a difficult thing to achieve and I’d be lucky if I won it for the third time. But, yes, it would be nice to do it,” the runner from Mahikeng in North West said.

Dijana has received a vote of confidence by the man who knows better than everyone what it takes to dominate Comrades — Fordyce himself.

“He can do it. I know people are thinking he has only won the down runs and the up run is a different beast. But you must remember when he won the first time [in 2022] he broke away at 45th Cutting [at the entrance to Durban's CBD] and that is on a hill, so that means he is good going up.

“That he has only run the up run once should not be too much of a factor. The routes are the same distance or less, and the down run has hills anyway.”

But how does Fordyce suggest Dijana succeed where the great Bongmusa Mthembu failed? The Arthur Ford athlete won in 2017 and 2018 and was a huge favourite in 2019, only to be beaten into second place by Edward Mothibi — the man who ran Dijana close in the previous two editions, finishing second and third respectively.

“What often happens to the Comrades title holder is [building up to the race] he hears rumours or reports so and so is strong and he starts panicking and doing much more training. That’s often their downfall.

“That’s why not many manage to win the race successively. [Rather] stick to what has worked for you when you won,” said Fordyce.

Why fix it when it ain’t broken? Dijana has won the race twice in a row and all he need do is persist with what has worked, running in a different direction notwithstanding.

Nedbank Running coaching guru Dave Adams, who also schemes for 2019 winner Mothibi, is confident Dijana will be champion this year and complete the hat-trick.

“Who is going to beat him?” he asked rhetorically. “I can tell you I thought Edward was going to beat him in the past two years.”

Mothibi did not. But in those two years the race was from Maritzburg to Durban. It is going the other way on Sunday and Dijana admits Mothibi is stronger on the up.

Dijana is far more experienced than when he was a novice on the up run five years ago and having twice experienced the glory of a Comrades victory he will no doubt stop at nothing to get a third that would secure him legendary status among some special names of the Ultimate Human Race.