Hamlett looking add to his galaxy of Comrades champions

JOHN Hamlett‘s passion for the Comrades Marathon is contagious. Spend time in the former South Africa Defence Colonel’s presence and you suddenly find yourself wanting to lace-up for the grueling race between the KwaZulu-Natal cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

- MATSHELANE MAMABOLO

A renowned champion-producer who has run the race himself, he specializes in training athletes just to tackle The Ultimate Human Race.

It’s been a while since he had a runner be the first to breast the finish line tape, but that has not dissuaded him from pushing on — Hamlett yet again taking a sizeable group of runners to the race taking place this weekend.

“We've got a good group Mats, and they are all ready to challenge for honours,” he says of the Pan African Resources Club (PAR) athletes who will line up among the elites at the start of the 98th running of this world famous ultra in front of the Pietermaritzburg City Hall early on Sunday.

Leading the charge for glory will no doubt be the highly experienced Gordon Lesetedi, the three-time gold medalist who will be lining up for his 10th race. Out in the high-altitude, quaint small tourist town of Dullstroom which has served as Hamlett’s base for cooking up Comrades Marathon champions — Lesetedi is the senior citizen following the retirement of 2015 king Gift Kelehe.

And he always leads by example during the long and hard training runs Hamlett gets the athletes doing so they are ready on race day.