Road running mourns death of Comrades hero Cheryl Winn

“CATASTROPHIC.” That’s how Comrades Marathon legend Bruce Fordyce described the death of former women’s winner and long-time race administrator Cheryl Winn.

Fordyce said they had been friends since the 1970s, and he was still trying to come to terms with her death in the Drakensberg last Sunday. It’s understood that she was on holiday with her family and reportedly slipped and fell while taking photographs.

“It’s a total shock and I still haven't processed it. You know, when Wally Hayward died we were all terribly sad, but he was in his 90s, so you can prepare yourself for something like that. Cheryl should have been around for the next 20 years. I still just wake up and I think there's no Cheryl. It's like the strangest feeling ever.”

Winn was originally from the United States, said Fordyce, but was more passionate about South Africa than many people who were born here.

“We both won the 1982 Comrades. So we go back even before that as great friends. I used to run a club time trial called the Pirates Time Trial which was from a club called Pirates, and Cheryl was a member of Pirates back then.”

He said Winn (then Jorgensen) was motivated to start running because of her first husband, Bob Jorgensen.

“She ran Comrades because she got frustrated with her husband who was going off running. She just decided if you can't beat them, join them - and the next thing she came second twice, I think, and then she won it in 1982.”

He said for most people, winning the Comrades would be the peak of their running career, but for Winn that paled into significance compared to what she did afterwards to grow the race as an official and as the chair.

“She filled various roles and then she and her second husband Mick Winn really could be credited with building the Comrades Marathon to what it is now. They really put all their heart and soul into it.”

Fordyce said it was a bleak time for members of the Comrades family, with the death of Winn following on the heels of the passing of Jetman Msuthu, who won the Comrades Marathon in 1992.

“It’s catastrophic. There's the Comrades family and then, not to sound too elitist, but there's also the Comrades winners family. It’s a small band of brothers and sisters. We've all had the honour of winning the race and when we lose one of us, it's traumatic. It's a small little family, there's not a lot of us. About two weeks ago we lost Jetman Msuthu who won the 1992 race, so it's not been a good time,” said Fordyce.

The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) described Winn as a “devoted servant” of road running in the country.

She ran the Comrades Marathon six times from 1978 to 1984, never finishing lower than fifth position in the women’s race, the organisation said.

According to the CMA, while still running competitively Winn became involved in the administrative side of the sport, initially at club and provincial level, and went on to play a leading role, alongside her late husband Mick Winn, in the national federation, South African Road Running Association (SARRA), which later became Athletics South Africa (ASA).

Described as the “matriarch” of the Comrades, the CMA said in 2017 she was the only former race winner to be elected Chair of the CMA Board. When she stood down as Chair in 2021, she continued to serve the race in various committees.

Mqondisi Ngcobo, the chairman of the CMA, said Winn’s death was a huge loss to the CMA and the athletics family as a whole.

“She dedicated her life from 1978 to the service of the sport of athletics, and the Comrades Marathon in particular. Cheryl’s legacy in this 104-year-old ultra marathon is unparalleled, and her passing is a devastating loss to the CMA family.”