The Nurgalieva Twins, Queens of the Comrades Marathon.
Image courtesy of: www.ziyawamag.com
Elena Nurgalieva continued her dominance of the Comrades Marathon with her eighth win.
In the end, the twin combination of Elena and her sister Olesya, once again made the race their own in conditions far from ideal with the temperature, coupled with wind, rising as they made their way from Durban to Pietermaritzburg yesterday.
The pair made their presence felt early on as they contested the lead from the off and were untroubled with the eventual winner Elena crossing the finish line in 6:27:08 while Olesya – in her first Comrades since the birth of her first child – was a little under a minute behind.
Irina Antropova – who celebrated her 31st birthday yesterday – completed the Russian clean sweep of the podium with a time of 6:44:36.
“It was very, very hard race. I don’t remember it so hot and windy,” Elena, who has now won the last five “up” runs she has contested, said in the aftermath of the defence of her Comrades crown.
“The result was slower if you compare the last eight years but anyway I’m satisfied with my result,” she added before admitting she was proud of the efforts of her sister who sat out last year.
“And having my sister second after having a child. People didn’t believe in her but she did it.” – The Citizen
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