“I’ll be back next year for unfinished business at the Comrades Marathon," says Rory Petzer

Listen to Rory and the other marathon runners talk about the Comrades:

Our Executive Producer Rory Petzer told us his story on Thursday about Comrades Marathon. 

 He had done all the training and even ran the Old Mutual Two Oceans 56km as a training run ahead of Comrades Marathon.

"I was happy with my fitness and I was keen to chase a sub-11-hour time, and even more keen on getting my back-to-back medal - one that is given to novice athletes who finish both an up and down run in consecutive years," he said.

Read: Comrades runner on crutches inspires the masses

On race day everything was going perfectly for him. He was feeling good and he even passed the halfway mark within his expected time, which is a great a deal for most runners.

Suddenly, things went took a turn for the worse.

"And then, all of a sudden, at about 70km, something really bad happened. I felt nauseous, and my legs started cramping so badly that I could see my muscles rippling under my skin. I threw up on the side of the road, sat down for five minutes to compose myself, and then I decided to push on a bit more," he added.

Read: Comrades champion Gerda Steyn confirms she will be back to run again

Turns out he had over hydrated along the way and the sodium levels in his blood had dropped dangerously low.

He went on to tell us that now he has some unfinished business and he cannot wait to get back to it. He'll be training again within the next two weeks and Comrades Marathon 2020 will see him at the starting line.

Check out some of his prep before the big day

We heard from some of the non-finishers on Thursday's show who told us their stories about getting close to the finish line but not making it. 

Did you not complete the race this year? Will you be doing it next year? Let us know below.