THE GREATEST DOWN RACERS SINCE FORDYCE

WHEN BRUCE FORDYCE WON HIS FINAL (AND NINTH!) COMRADES MARATHON IN 1991, IT SIGNALLED THE END OF AN ERA AND THE START OF AN INFLUX OF INTERNATIONAL ATHLETES WHO CAME TO CONQUER THE ULTIMATE HUMAN RACE. BUT SOUTH AFRICANS HAVE MORE THAN HELD THEIR OWN; SO, IN CELEBRATION OF THE 2025 'DOWN' RUN, HERE ARE THE STORIES OF AND LESSONS FROM THREE OF THE GREATEST DOWN' RACES, BY THE CHAMPIONS WHO CONTESTED THEM.

- MIKE FINCH

1997 THE BATTLE OF THE GIANTS

Nick Bester proved that even against a star-studded line-up, the right mindset can make all the difference.

NICK BESTER GREW UP TOUGH.

When his father was tragically killed in a car accident, seven-year-old Nick and his mother lost their home and the family farm and spent years as nomads, staying with friends and family. Like his rugby-playing namesake father, Nick Junior was forced to toughen up and make his own luck.

While many succumb to such circumstances, Nick Bester Jr. turned his early childhood trauma into a competitive athletic career that earned him nicknames such as 'Ysterman' and 'Ultraman'. He became a multiple Ironman triathlon champion; but when that wasn't enough to satisfy him, he took on the runners at their own game.

“I wasn’t built for running,” says Bester, now 65. “I was around 72kg, and I was up against guys who sometimes weighed 20kg less than me. But I learned to believe in myself, and I think that was my biggest strength.”

In 1991, proving his bona fides as a runner, Bester won the Comrades Marathon. This breakthrough win set him on course to be one of the most popular local runners, in a decade when the Russian ultra runners started to make their presence felt. Bester was a symbol of good old-fashioned vasbyt, and South Africa loved him.