Comrades 2024 Full Field Stats

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This is part of a tetralogy of articles providing an in-depth statistical analysis of Comrades 2024. The articles on Elite Men, Elite Women and Start Line Stats are already available.

From the Cradle to the Grave

The graph below is a hurricane funnel answering the often-asked question, “What happens to all the entries?”, plotting the fate of the 24,094 Comrades 2024 entries. There was a 21.6% attrition rate to get to the start line which is very similar to the most recent Up runs in 2017 (20.8%) and 2019 (22.4%). However, almost 94% of starters crossed the finish line (although 350 of these did so over 12 hours).

The three percentages are based on total entries, starters and finishers respectively (e.g. 3.6% of entries finish under 7h30, 4.5% of starters and 4.9% of medallists). There is more detailed analysis on the medal breakdowns as well as overall finish success rates comparisons later in this article.

Note: The finisher numbers are for all people earning that medal or better. For example, the ‘Vic Clapham’ 17305 are all finishers (i.e. 12 hours or better) and the ‘Bronze’ 11398 is everyone finishing 11 hours or better (i.e. it includes all Bronze, RM, BR, etc. medals).
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Comrades 2024: Start Line Stats

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This is a part of a series of articles covering statistics from Comrades 2024. Other articles are Comrades 2024: Women’s Elite Stats, Comrades 2024: Men’s Elite Stats and Full Field Stat (to come). Depending on time, I will also do a detailed article on Qualifier Marathon Stats.

Note: Most of the content was originally posted on social media so there might be some past case / future case errors I missed when transcribing.

First Record Broken at Comrades 2024

The class of 2024 were officially the oldest group of starters at any Comrades Marathon where age records exist. As you can see from the graph below, the average age of the Comrades runner has steadily increased since 1990 from 35 to over 44 post-Covid.

Two noticeable step changes happened. The first was a full year increase from 39 to 40 in 2003 when the cutoff time was permanently increased to 12-hours. However, the biggest increase was the first post-Covid event which went from 42.1 in 2019 to 44 in 2022. I believe this is largely due to new joiners to the great sport of road running being “lost” during the Covid shutdowns with no road running fixtures (and most participants in 2022 were already “marathon runners” pre-Covid).

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Systemic Corruption at Comrades: Former Manager made Irregular Payments & Assaulted Comrades Legend

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After Rowyn James was announced as one of the 21 nominees for the 7 vacant Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) Board positions, I received a tip off that, during his time as the Comrades Race Manager, James had made “secret” payments. The payments were made to Chris Lombard, a volunteer who was the finish line convenor, and were not sanctioned. Furthermore, Lombard was the seconder on James’ CMA Board nomination form.

READ MORE: Comrades Board nominees: A light at the end of the tunnel?

The source provided me with the names of 4 senior staff and stakeholders with whom I could verify that the illicit payments occurred. Three have confirmed that an irregular and unsanctioned 5-figure “Management Fee” was paid annually to Lombard. The fourth has read my messages but has not replied. One of the sources did explain that the payment would ‘need to have been signed off’ but could not explain the ‘serious irregularity’ of a volunteer being paid.

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Comrades Board nominees: A light at the end of the tunnel?

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After all the controversy surrounding Board level corruption, maladministration and incompetence, the announced list of Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) Board nominees was eagerly anticipated.

The good news is that there is plenty of choice with 21 nominees for the 7 available Board positions including plenty of fresh blood amongst a handful of the usual suspects. I have grouped the nominees into three categories and provided some context below.

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PRESS RELEASE: CMA ‘supergroup’ to engage with the interim Comrades Board

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After a series of legal letters and communiques from a diverse group of concerned Comrades stakeholders (including former winners, CMA Board members and Comrades legends), we are pleased to report two major developments:

1. The interim CMA Board has officially withdrawn its opposition to the High Court case due to be heard on 23 October. The case is a result of the urgent High Court interdict that allowed non-KZN residents to speak and vote at the Special General Meeting (SGM) in August after KZNA issued a ‘locals only’ edict for the first time in the CMA’s 43 year history. This is expected to save Comrades over R1 million.

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What’s New & Improved at Comrades 2024?

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As someone who had plenty to say about what went wrong at Comrades 2023, it gives me great pleasure to write an article about what’s going right at Comrades 2024.

Much of the credit for the positive changes can be attributed to newly appointed Race & Operations Manager, Ann Ashworth, who left her career as an advocate to take up the position in November 2023. Under her leadership there’s renewed energy, innovation and an attention to detail that has been lacking for many years.

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Life Lessons from the Road – Risky Business

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[This is the second part of an article using ultra marathon running to explain sizing. You can read the first part here: The Best Ultra Marathon Runner in the World Helps Explain Why Size Matters]

In the first installment, we established that smaller is better when it comes to estimation and sizing. We used Camille Herron (holder of nine ultra marathons distance world records) to illustrate that as volume increases velocity, confidence and predictability decrease. Below is a table with her personal bests (several of which are world records).

Risk enters the race

One aspect that most people forget about when sizing is risk – and an important factor here is that as size increases, risk increases exponentially. Anyone, regardless of their current state of fitness, can start a one kilometre race highly confident that they will make it to the finish line within a reasonably small variance of their time estimation.

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Josiah Gumede Marathon (Escaping Black Friday in the Drakensberg)

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[Marathon #200 / Unique Marathon #111 / 24 November 2018]

A good way to avoid the Black Friday madness that has engulfed our country over the last few years is to head into the countryside. As luck would have it, a new marathon had popped onto the calendar which provided a reliable means of escape: The Josiah Gumede Marathon (42.2 point-to-point kilometres nestled into the northern Drakensburg). Continue reading “Josiah Gumede Marathon (Escaping Black Friday in the Drakensberg)”

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