Meet the Comrades superheroes

They’re the best of frenemies in a very different but just as competitive Comrades race.

Dean Wight, 56, a veteran of 31 marathons, has won it six times. For Mahesh Ratanjee this will be his fourth Comrades and he stands as last year's winner.

The race - in which the two are neck a neck - is to be the top fundraiser for the Comrades official charities. Both are aiming to raise over R200 000. Both say the charity component helps keep them going through the race itself.

Wright, who runs with Queensburgh Harriers, is supporting the Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust. In the eight years he has been running for charity he has raised more than R2.7 million. He actually counts having run 33 Comrades - although two were virtual during the Covid lockdowns.

His best year was in R2021 when he raised R538 000 running 90km around his garden. He remembers it being Easter Monday and receiving a large donation from a devoted husband, whose wife, a Comrades runner, had died from covid.

Ratanjee admits he’s “just a newbie”. He runs with Durban Athletics Club, which he says is the second oldest Athletics club in the world after London. He’s raising funds for the Community Chests of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. His first attempt at Comrades was cancelled with the Covid lockdowns and it’s only since that he has been running for charity. Last year he raised the top amount - R197 000.

“You kicked me to the kerb,” Wight says.

“Hey, you just gave me a break,” Ratanjee replies.

Ratanjee runs for the Community Chest because the funds raised support an issue dear to his heart - early childhood development. “My wife and I lost our first child, a girl. We’ve been fortunate to have two sons since, but I run in her memory. Then last year I lost my 11-year-old niece, so I run on behalf of two angels,” he says. “They are my superheroes,” he says, showing his Superhero cape that Community Chest runners are given.

Wight points to the superhero Captain Creme Soda emblazoned on his bakkie. He runs a company called Beloved Long Runs which helps train people for Comrades. His whole life spent in the sports world - in sports stores and with shoe makers.

He ran his first Comrades in 1988 and has had “many years of practice”. He started running at age 11 when a schoolboy friend asked him to join him on a fun run. His grandfather ran the second Comrades in 1922. After his first race it was his goal to get a green number - then 20. Now it’s 50.

He tells how a HACT volunteer approached him to run for the charity. It was a volunteer named Sally Jones. “I went to meet this lady and ended up saying yes. I said ‘let’s go for R10 000’. And then I thought, I know more than 1 000 runners and if each gives R10, that’s over R100 000. I phoned her back with the new offer. And then a schoolboy friend phoned to say that if I raised over R100 000 he’d throw in another R100 000,” he said.

Ratanjee, who admits he’s never going to be upfront with an 11 hour 47 finish last year,  enjoyed running at school and used to participate in the 3 000 meters. His dad and aunt were big Comrades fans. “But it took me 45 years to rope myself into the race,” he says. “Last year was special as one of my school mates who beat me in that 3000m contest ran with me,” he says. “And he’s doing it again this year.”

Asked about their advice to fellow runners, Wight says to pace yourself and “enjoy your day”. 

“Start slow and finish strong," Ratanjee pipes in.

Gordon Mc Donald, director of the Community Chest, thanked the athletes who run for charity. “Runners put in their heart and soul. All the charities work with their runners, make a fuss of them. It can be lonely on the road, and charities provide a purpose and community for many. It’s something bigger than themselves.”

Then as we finish one of them checks the comrades charity app. Some "whippersnapper" has jumped over both of them. They vow to redouble their efforts.