Grace de Oliveira retires from Comrades Marathon

Grace de Oliveira an exceptional athlete and a true Comrades Marathon legend broke the news today to the CMA that she has retired from Ultra Distance running.

Grace DeOliveira (47), who has consistently finished and competed for top honours each Comrades Marathon since 1999, will not be competing in the 2009 Comrades Marathon. Grace has always done herself, her family, KZN, and South Africa proud, finishing 7 times in the top 10, and only 3 times out the top 10 woman. Grace had her best result in 1999 when she finished in second place in a time of 06:34:53. Grace has 7 Gold Medals and 3 silver. Grace has always been a top contender for Comrades.

Grace gave 10 years of her running career to the Comrades Marathon and Ultra Marathons. She is a highly competitive runner and stated that she “loves Comrades” but would prefer to concentrate on the shorter distances.

“At the start of the 2008 Comrades Marathon, I had already decided that this would be my last Comrades Marathon, and that I would do the best I could.” “I am very happy with my decision to retire from the Ultra distance running but will still be running the shorter races.”

Grace also urged all runners that had still not made up the minds to enter the 2009 race to do so by the 31 March 2009.

Grace has achieved the following Comrades Marathon results

Year                 Position           Medal
1999                 2                      Gold
2000                 3                      Gold
2001                 7                      Gold
2002                 6                      Gold
2003                 11                     Silver
2004                 8                      Gold
2005                 13                     Silver
2006                 10                     Gold
2007                 10                     Gold
2008                 13                     Silver