33rd in Drummond to 6th in Durban - Alex Milne does it again and can now dream of Comrades podium
- Mosibodi Whitehead
- Jul 7
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 8
Having secured two consecutive gold medals, Alex Milne is slowly emerging as a dark horse for a future podium position at the Comrades Marathon. Just as he did during the 2024 Up Run where he went from 62nd at halfway to finish in ninth at the Hollywoodbets Scottsville Racecourse, the Englishman produced another huge negative split going from 59th at Cato Ridge, 33rd at Drummond (halfway), thirteenth at Westville and sixth at the finish line in Durban.
"It was a very tough run," he told #TheTopRunner. "A lot of suffering, especially in the second half. The last two Comrades, I've gone off conservatively. But this time I knew that I had to set off a bit harder if I wanted to guarantee a top ten finish because the field was very strong. I was just off the lead pack for pretty much all of the first half and then once they got just passed half way, they started to move away. I realised that I was already feeling a bit more tired than I wanted dot at the point. So I backed off and let them go. Luckily in the last 20km I managed to reel a few back in and even better in the last 5km where I got three guys near the end. I'm very happy with sixth. I couldn't have asked for more."
Reflecting on his 5:34:08 clocking which is faster than the 5:36:51 he ran on the shorter Up Run course last year, the 35-year-old maths teacher from London says that he had to be innovative in his training in order to complete key sessions. For example, in addition to wearing multiple layers of clothing to simulate heat runs, Milne had to drive 45 minutes form his house to find a 3km hill on which he could do his hill repeats in pancake flat London. This problem solving mindset and the 2:14:03 42,2km personal best he ran at the London Marathon on 27 April set him up for his fastest run at The Ultimate Human Race.
"I got a two and a half minute PB at the London Marathon and that was only six weeks before Comrades. Recovering from that and trying to do a small training block for Comrades was a bit tricky. I did slightly less than I wanted to do for this race in terms of long runs. My plan was to do three hilly long runs at a fast pace, but the first one I attempted, I smashed my knee against a gate and was forced to stop early. Luckily, I recovered well after a few days and I was able to train through the knee injury. I ended up doing one 60km and one 44km."
Aside from the training and the inevitable niggles that go with preparing one's body for 89.98km, Milne's main obstacle was managing the demands of a young family. That he was able to emerge unscathed and with R71 000 in prize money, he credits his wife for.
"I work part-time three days at school and the other two days from home. I'm still running to and from work, which helps to get in some extra kilometres. I've also got a 21-month old boy, so it was challenging juggling it all. A lot of the training is done alone just to try and fit it in around childcare. My wife is really happy for me. I have her to thank really because she is the one spending so much time at home looking after our son, while I'm out running and training."
With the family happy and Milne’s father particularly happy with his son's Comrades performances, what's next? Does the Nedbank Running Club man think that he can become the first British man to finish on the Comrades podium since Mick Orton famously won the race in 1972?
"I don’t know. We'll see. The pain I went through at Comrades this year has me saying never again. But give me a few weeks and maybe I'll be back again for the Up Run. I think the Down is harder just because of the pain on the legs, so maybe the Up Run is the more likely one to podium if that's gonna happen. I'll decide soon."
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