Comrades Marathon
In 1977, when Fordyce first ran the Comrades Marathon, he placed 43rd out of 1,678 entries. He placed 14th in 1978, 3rd in 1979, 2nd in 1980, and was the winner for an unprecedented eight consecutive years from 1981 to 1988; he won it again in 1990. No other runner in the history of the Comrades has achieved this feat. Fordyce also held the record time for the "up" run (Durban to Pietermaritzburg) and his record of 5:24:07 for the "down" run (Pietermaritzburg to Durban) stood for 21 years from 1986 until it was broken in 2007 by Russia's Leonid Shvetsov.
| Year | Position | Time | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 43 | 06:45:00 | Up |
| 1978 | 14 | 06:11:00 | Down |
| 1979 | 3 | 05:51:15 | Up |
| 1980 | 2 | 05:40:31 | Down |
| 1981 | 1 | 05:37:28 | Up |
| 1982 | 1 | 05:34:22 | Down |
| 1983 | 1 | 05:30:12 | Up |
| 1984 | 1 | 05:27:18 | Down |
| 1985 | 1 | 05:37:01 | Up |
| 1986 | 1 | 05:24:07 | Down |
| 1987 | 1 | 05:37:01 | Up |
| 1988 | 1 | 05:27:42 | Up |
| 1990 | 1 | 05:40:25 | Up |
| 1991 | 328 | 06:57:02 | Down |
| 1994 | 19 | 06:01:54 | Up |
| 1995 | 2232 | 08:42:48 | Down |
| 1996 | 329 | 06:59:30 | Up |
| 2000 | 2691 | 08:41:11 | Up |
| 2001 | 2790 | 08:50:52 | Down |
| 2002 | 4252 | 09:48:46 | Up |
| 2003 | 2784 | 08:53:12 | Down |
| 2004 | 3088 | 09:26:02 | Up |
| 2005 | 2311 | 08:45:20 | Down |
| 2006 | 3596 | 09:41:11 | Up |
| 2007 | 3861 | 09:48:18 | Down |
| 2008 | 3710 | 10:07:33 | Up |
| 2009 | 3818 | 09:48:21 | Down |
| 2010 | 965 | 07:55:03 | Down |
| 2011 | 488 | 07:30:31 | Up |
He has thus completed 29 Comrades Marathons, including the remarkable result of posting identical times in 1985 and 1987. In 2011 he aimed for a silver medal, but missed this by 31 seconds (finishing time of 7 hours 30 minutes 31 seconds).
Read more about this topic: Bruce Fordyce
Famous quotes containing the words comrades and/or marathon:
“Two well-assorted travellers use
The highway, Eros and the muse.
From the twins is nothing hidden,
To the pair is naught forbidden;
Hand in hand the comrades go
Every nook of nature through:
Each for the other they were born,
Each can other best adorn.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“... marathon swimming is the most difficult physical, intellectual and emotional battleground I have encountered, and each time I win, each time I touch the other shore, I feel worthy of any other challenge life has to offer.”
—Diana Nyad (b. 1949)