S3|E19 - What It Takes To Win The Comrades Marathon with 2024 Male Winner, Piet Wiersma

Making A Runner

We are back after a small production break with one of the most anticipated conversations of the year - The 2024 Comrades Marathon Winner, Piet Wiersma.

After narrowly missing out on the win in 2023 by 2 seconds the 'Unknown' Dutchman was the talk of the South African and global running community. We had the pleasure of chatting to him back then (See S2|E17) where he pledged he would make a comeback this year and go one step higher on the podium. A commitment that he was able to fulfill on the 9th of June with a time of 5h:25min earning him the Crown of Comrades Champion.

In this conversation we chat to Piet and ask him 'How' he was able to master up this incredible victory coming from a part-time running, full time student background with minimal sponsors and backing (AKA, an amateur runner) at only 26 years of age. We cover:

• His Injury Set back after Comrades 2023 which saw him starting training for this year on the back foot.
• His running schedule when in Italy whilst trying to juggle his studies.
• His build up to this years race in detail including his 6 weeks in Kenya and his weekly training schedule.
• The weeks leading up to Comrades 2024, his taper, relationships with Nedbank Running Club and his race day strategy.
• The 2024 Comrades Race in Detail
• What the future holds for Piet, his marathon aspirations and sponsorship opportunities.

We certainly learned lots from Piet and his way of doing things. He is truly inspiring and his ability is just astounding. We know this is just the start of Piet's dance with the Comrades Marathon crown and we look forward to watching him develop further as a runner and a role model for this race we all love so much.

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This episode was brought to you by our sponsor , Rawbiotics. Make sure to visit www.rawbiotics.co.za and claim your 15% discount using the code "MAR15".