Welsh Master Ifan Lloyd tells of his drama in the Comrades Marathon..and WMAL duo faced England.

*Swansea Harrier and Welsh Master Ifan Lloyd ran the Comrades Marathon.

Welsh Master endurance athlete Ifan Lloyd tackled the famous Comrades Marathon in South Africa, and success for WMAL duo at the Masters Match half-marathon at Swansea.

Introduction by Don Hale. Story forwarded courtesy of David Gibson.

https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com

www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk

Swansea Harrier and Welsh Master Athletics veteran Ifan Lloyd tells of his recent gruelling and dramatic experiences of running the famous Comrades Marathon on 8th June 2025.

This year was the down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, some 56.32 miles distance, with an overall drop of over 800metres, on a hot and stifling day.
Just about managed to finish in one piece to earn a back-to-back medal for completing the race on two consecutive years.  To be honest I had no right to start the race given the hamstring tendinopathy, and even less of a right to finish. 

I had done no decent training sessions for nearly 4 weeks before race day since the injury flare up. It was a privilege to be included in the elite start category at the front of the race on basis of being a contender in the over 60-year age category. 

The lead up to the 5:30am start in the darkness of Pietermaritzburg was the same goose bump experience as last year with over 20,000 participants joining in for the South Africa National Anthem followed by Shosholoza, Chariots of Fire, and then the Crow of a Cockerel, to send the runners on their way. 

The tendon played up early but for some reason, settled toward in latter part of the race.
However, my quad muscles started tying up with a burning sensation within the first 5 miles – and this was before the downhill sections! I believe this was a result of not doing much real training in the 4 weeks leading up to race day.  

I don’t usually suffer this problem, but I most certainly did on this occasion, deteriorating rapidly from about half-way.  I dropped out of the race three times because of the pain but then rejoined the race on each occasion.  This was reflected in the breakdown of the run: Finish time: 10hrs55m49s which was nearly three hours slower than last year. The total run time was 6 hours 26 minutes and 01seconds, total walk time 3 hours 23 minutes and 59 seconds, with a total idle time (on stop) 2h10m. 

Nevertheless, I'm of the view this was one of my best all time performances as I've never dug so 
deep in a race. Time of a welcome rest now enjoying the next phase of the trip on safari in Kruger National Park before moving on to Cape Town.  The level of support during the race was simply incredible. South Africans love their sport and boy do they love the Comrades! 

Local communities and households came out to support along the whole route offering encouragement, drinks and food. Star food were the salted boiled potatoes – an almost perfect way to maintain energy levels for the 5,983 calories expended.

No doubt the Comrades is right up there as one of the best and most iconic races in the international calendar. Worst of all it’s addictive, drawing runners back again and again for yet another dose of pain!

*Ifan Lloyd (*above), with his race number on the promotion stand.

 

Success for WMAL duo at the Masters Match at Swansea.

 

*Welsh Master David Gibson represented Wales at the recent Half Marathon Masters match in Swansea against England and the Armed Forces (M70 Silver Trophy), and Alan Davies broke the M70 HM World Record (subject to ratification).