Biogen fuels Nedbank Running Clubs success at the Comrades Marathon

Among the men, green-clad Nedbank runners secured another clean sweep of the podium, with Tete Dijana defending his title from last year with a new ‘down run’ record. In the women’s race, Adele Broodryk secured second with another record-breaking performance.

For the first time in the race’s history, two women finished under six hours when Adele crossed the line in a time of 05:56:26, which was a mere two minutes off Frith van der Merwe’s 5:54:43 down run record set in 1989.

Tete’s record-breaking win was life-changing for this security guard from the North West. He earned R500,000 for the win, an extra R200,000 as the first South African athlete, and a R500,000 bonus for breaking the record – double what he won in prize money in 2022.

Tete also received a bonus incentive for his Comrades performance, with Nick Bester Sport and the Nedbank Running Club adding R250,000 to his race-day earnings, on top of the R360,000 per year he receives from Nedbank.

Adele’s success also earned her substantial financial rewards, taking home R250,000 in prize money for second place and a R125,000 incentive bonus from Nick Bester Sport and Nedbank Running Club for her Comrades performance.

As the nutrition partner to the Nedbank Running Club, Tete and Adele used Biogen supplements to fuel their race in 2023.

We spoke with Tete and Adele to reveal the nutrition and supplement strategies they used on race day to fuel their amazing performances.

Tete didn’t change much from the approach that earned him the win in 2022. However, he added more protein to his diet, with Biogen Iso-Whey a more regular inclusion to speed up his recovery.

Tete refined his fuelling approach developed for the 2022 race but kept his strategy structured around Biogen Carbogen and Biogen Cytogen drinks during the race.

“I drank Biogen Carbogen before the race, and alternated between Carbogen and Cytogen every 10km. I used Biogen Energy Gels in between my liquid feeds. I also had a protein drink at halfway during Comrades this year to help limit muscle damage on the down run. I think that helped my ability to finish faster than I did last year.”

Tete had a Biogen Energy Oats bar and a Biogen Iso-Whey Protein shake to support his recovery after the race.

For Comrades, Adele settled on a combination of liquid feeds in the early and middle portions of the race, with Biogen Real Energy Gels towards the end.

“I alternated between Biogen Cytogen, Biogen Recovergen and Biogen Carbogen, with my fourth bottle containing water with a Biogen Electrolyte tab. I repeated this cycle three times – 12 bottles in total. I also drank Biogen Amino Power+ at the start and another serving at 50km.”