Bruce Noel Stevenson Fordyce (born 3 December 1955 in Hong Kong) is a South African marathon and ultramarathon athlete who was also active in opposing apartheid. He is best known for having won the South African Comrades Marathon a record nine times, of which eight wins were consecutive. He also won the London to Brighton Ultramarathon three years in a row. He is the former world record holder over 50 miles and the former world record holder over 100 km.
Early life and education Born in Hong Kong to Evan Noel and Nancy Ann (Née Stevenson), Fordyce moved with his family to Johannesburg when he was 13 years old. He completed his school career at Woodmead High School and subsequently attended the University of the Witwatersrand, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977 and his Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979. During this time he was also a member of the university's anti-apartheid Student Representative Council as well as a committee member of the Wits Athletic Club. He married Gillian Leigh (Née Bruce)
Fordyce has an interest in Southern African prehistory and San rock art, based on his academic background in archaeology. His participation in international marathons has brought him to several archaeologically significant regions, most notably Jerusalem, where he competed in the Jerusalem Marathon and visited local archaeological sites. He has also been described as an enthusiastic birdwatcher, with a particular interest in African birdlife.
Comrades Marathon In 1977, when Fordyce first ran the Comrades Marathon, he placed 43rd out of 1,678 entries. He placed 14th in 1978, 3rd in 1979, 2nd in 1980, and was the winner for an unprecedented eight consecutive years from 1981 to 1988; he won it again in 1990. No other runner in the history of the Comrades has achieved this feat. Fordyce also held the record time for the "up" run (Durban to Pietermaritzburg) and his record of 5:24:07 for the "down" run (Pietermaritzburg to Durban) stood for 21 years from 1986 until it was broken in 2007 by Russia's Leonid Shvetsov.
+ Bruce Fordyce's Comrades Marathon Results Year Position Time DirectionMedal 1977 43 06:45:00 Up Silver 1978 14 06:11:00 Down Silver 1979 3 05:51:15 Up Gold 1980 2 05:40:31 Down Gold 1981 1 05:37:28 Up Gold 1982 1 05:34:22 Down Gold 1983 1 05:30:12 Up Gold 1984 1 05:27:18 Down Gold 1985 1 05:37:01 Up Gold 1986 1 05:24:07 Down Gold 1987 1 05:37:01 Up Gold 1988 1 05:27:42 Up Gold 1990 1 05:40:25 Up Gold 1991 328 06:57:02 Down Silver 1994 19 06:01:54 Up Silver 1995 2232 08:42:48 Down Bronze 1996 329 06:59:30 Up Silver 2000 2691 08:41:11 Up Bill Rowan 2001 2790 08:50:52 Down Bill Rowan 2002 4252 09:48:46 Up Bronze 2003 2784 08:53:12 Down Bill Rowan 2004 3088 09:26:02 Up Bronze 2005 2311 08:45:20 Down Bill Rowan 2006 3596 09:41:11 Up Bronze 2007 3861 09:48:18 Down Bronze 2008 3710 10:07:33 Up Bronze 2009 3818 09:48:21 Down Bronze 2010 965 07:55:03 Down Bill Rowan 2011 488 07:30:31 Up Bill Rowan 2012 1099 08:06:10 Down Bill Rowan
He has thus completed 30 Comrades Marathons, including the remarkable result of posting identical times in 1985 and 1987. In 2011 he aimed for a silver medal, but missed this by 32 seconds (finishing time of 7 hours 30 minutes 31 seconds).
London to Brighton Ultramarathon Fordyce won the London to Brighton ultramarathon three years running from 1981 to 1983.
World record holder Fordyce was the world record holder over 50 miles, when he covered the distance in 4hr 50min 21sec at the 1984 AMJA 50 Mile Ultramarathon in Chicago, IL, until the record was broken by Jim Walmsley on 5 May 2019. Fordyce holds the 50-mile record for the United States All Comers Race.
Political activism Fordyce was strongly anti-apartheid.Bruce Fordyce, University of the Witwatersrand Honorary Degree Citation On his first victory race in 1981 he wore a black armband to protest against the 20th anniversary celebrations of the apartheid republic attracting boos and even some rotten tomatoes thrown by a fellow runner. Fordyce has claimed this protest as "one of the proudest moments in my life".
Books, journalism and motivational speaker In addition to having written two books about the Comrades Marathon, Fordyce was also a sports columnist for various newspapers and magazines, and a SABC television commentator for the 2014 event. He is also a motivational speaker and the chief executive officer of the South African Sports Trust.
Parkrun Fordyce also introduced parkrun to South Africa in November 2011. This is a collection of free-entry weekly 5k run events. There are now 210 parkrun events in South Africa as of 16 October 2023. Fordyce ran his 500th parkrun at Delta Park, Johannesburg, the first South African parkrun venue, on 14 October 2023.
Other honours In 2004, he was voted 64th in the Top 100 Great South Africans.
In 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of the Witwatersrand.
References
External links South African Who's Who – Bruce Fordyce