AFP
16 June 2000 – Pietermaritzburg, South Africa - Vladimir Koton of Belarus on Friday won South Africa's 87.6km Comrades marathon uphill run in a record time of five hours 25 minutes and 33 seconds.
Koton, 41, shaved almost one minute off the 1998 uphill record of 5:26.25 set by Russian Dimitri Grishine.
Russian Alexei Volgin came in second in 5:27.07 and Grishine, defending champion for the uphill run, third (5:32.47).
The first South African home was Donovan Wright, who finished fourth in 5:35.37.
The women's race was won by German Maria Bak in 6hr 15min 35sec.
A record 24,500-plus runners started the 75th annual Comrades marathon in the east coast city of Durban and set out for the uphill run to the inland town of Pietermaritzburg.
The race, the country's premier marathon, also had a record 809 foreign entries this year, from countries including Canada, Russia, Botswana, Australia, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
The uphill run is alternated with the downhill run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban
