‘Not my day’: Tete Dijana still believes he can win the Comrades up run
· Citizen
Though he stumbled after being touted among the pre-race favourites, missing out on a top-10 finish again in KwaZulu-Natal last weekend, Tete Dijana insists he is capable of winning the Comrades Marathon up run.
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Dijana has been phenomenal in recent years, winning the down run between Pietermaritzburg and Durban in 2022, 2023 and 2025, and setting the course record of 5:13:58 in 2023.
On the up run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, however, he settled for 14th position in 2024, and last week he trailed home in 51st place in 5:59:36. He was so far back among the elite athletes that the top two women – Gerda Steyn and Nobukhosi Tshuma – both finished ahead of him.
“My preparation went well, but it wasn’t my day and obviously I have to accept and admit the defeat,” Dijana said yesterday.
“We’ll see moving forward if we can spot the mistakes that I made during the race and before the race during my preparation, fix these things and come back strongly.”
Looking ahead
Dijana is likely to line up as the favourite next year, as he targets his fourth successive down run victory at the 100th edition of the annual ultra-marathon.
And though he will have to wait until 2028 to have another crack at the up run, he said he would shake off his latest defeat and focus on recovering from last week’s race before setting his sights on the build-up to the historic 2027 event.
“I still have the belief that I can run the up run, so I will see in 2028 hopefully, but for now we’re just looking forward to the next race and seeing what I can do better.”