Steve Way peaks to podium at the classic ultra event, 'The Comrades Marathon'

Steve Way has impressed the world of ultra running with a fine podium finish last weekend for 3rd position, completing the classic 56 mile ultra event (90km) in an average of 3:44 per km over the hilly roads from Cape Town to Durban.

South African athletes took the top two places with Bongmusa Mthembu taking his third title in 5 hours 26:34. Steve Way (handicap -4.4) was 18 seconds behind silver spot in 5 hours 35:27 for his 90 km awesome effort.

Last year, Steve ran the race entirely on heart rate, monitoring it throughout and sticking to a level that he felt he could maintain for the duration of the race. That worked as he gradually progressed his way through the field, picking people off progressively throughout the race.

Steve, who is the GB 100km road and British M40 marathon record-holder, made progress towards the podium in the last 30km as he moved from 11th place to the bronze medal position by the end. A more detailed report on Steve's race is here. 

Carla Molinaro (handicap 2.9) made a top10 finish as she clocked 6:50:31 to take ninth in the women’s race.

This is another world class performance from British endurance running,  on the back of the recent bronze medal from Tom Evans (handicap -3.2) at the World Ultra Trail Running Championships in Spain last month.

And with 11 athletes already under 29 minutes for 10,000m this year in the UK,  endurance running is promising us an exciting future. Three of the 11 are under 28 minutes, with young  Alex Yee (handicap -5.7) the fastest at 27:51.