Meet 60-year-old who hasn’t missed a Comrades race since 1990

Vitalis Poli, 60, has run and finished the Comrades Marathon 34 times and has not missed a single race since his debut in 1990.

Poli was 24 when he ran his first Comrades, and hasn't looked back since. 

“Comrades is like nyaope [highly addictive drug], I'm addicted to it. Maybe I will stop when I get to 40 Comrades runs, but I don't know because last year during the race I was telling other runners around me that I'm too old, I must stop running this thing. One gentleman who was 75 years old told me I was too young to stop. So I will keep going, but the goal is to get to 40 consecutive Comrades Marathon finishes” he said.

Poli shared his experience with members of the Fat Cats Athletic Club during a Comrades seminar in Midrand last week ahead of the race on Sunday. The audience included some of the club's novice runners who will be running the 90km-long race from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.

Wearing his jacket adorned with several Comrades Marathon badges and scrolls, the group seem to admire Poli's courage and stamina for someone his age. 

Someone in the crowd asked him why he keeps going back year after year when some runners only want to run two Comrades races, the up and down run, Poli attributed his consistency to the love of the sport. “It is the love of running, the love for Comrades Marathon. It is the motivation that I get. It is who I am and it’s in my blood.

“I also thought I’ll never go back after my first one because of the way I felt. My body was in so much pain. How I find myself going back for the second race, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the pain that motivates me to come back time and again,” he said. 

The father of two ran his first Comrades when his eldest daughter was just a week old. He ran an impressive time of 8 hrs 16 mins. “My family has long accepted my love for the sport. They tell me if my body is still willing, I must keep going because they can see this is where my happiness starts.”

Over the years, Poli has achieved four silver medals, nine Bill Rowan medals, 18 Bronze medals, three Vic Clapham medals, with a best time of 7 hours, 18 minutes. His 34 Comrades races put him in an elite class of only a handful of runners who have achieved triple green number status. Less than 100 runners have completed more than 30 Comrades Marathon. This is a remarkable achievement considering that more than 20,000 runners enter the race every year.

Traditionally, runners keep the same race number each year. After completing 10 Comrades, earning three wins, or achieving five gold medals, a runner is awarded a Green Number, which is permanently reserved for them. 

“I have been fortunate that nothing has kept me from going to participate, no serious injury, no flu, and not even a funeral in my family or a close friend. No-one dies in June in my family. It's as if they probably think I will not attend their funeral and so they all 'choose' other months to die. It's been God's grace,” he said. 

Polis said running has helped him to be disciplined. Growing up in Sebokeng, it could have been easy to go astray, but thanks to running, it gave him purpose and direction in life. He has had only two bad experiences while running, one being bumped by a drunken motorist while participating in the Soweto Marathon and a terrible fall at the Comrades Marathon.

“I once fell while running down Drummond Hill during Comrades. I was running with the leading lady, I tripped over the cat-eyes [road reflector] and went tumbling down. I had to recover for about 30 minutes, and I carried on to finish,” he said. 

Polis, a professional chef, has ran all his Comrades in the colours of his former employer the correctional services department. 

“Comrades is an endurance race, it needs discipline, patience and mental strength. Start slow and save energy, you have a long day ahead of you. At some point exhaustion will set in and your legs will want to stop, and your mind starts looking for excuses. It is your reasons why you started the race that will take you to the finish,” he advises. 

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