Humorous Anecdotes, Observations & Accounts of Marathon Running & Agile Adventures.
This article provides detailed information on all South Africa’s May 2025 marathons including race descriptions and recommendations. You can find the full 2025 marathon / ultra calendar here.
A summary of your choices is below:
[For anyone late to the party, this article was published on 1 April as an April Fool’s joke – but it does provide a satirical commentary on the South African road running scene.]
In a surprise move, Comrades have announced that they will be moving their 2026 race date to the October slot recently vacated by Cape Town Marathon (CTM). Comrades has traditionally been run on the second Sunday in June which would be three weeks after CTM’s new 23 May race date.
Continue reading “Breaking News: Comrades to take CTM’s October race date in 2026”
Cape Town Marathon announced that the 2026 race date was moving to the end of May and the South African road running internet went mad. Social media is great at polarizing people and this case was no different…
In the left corner you had the Comrades runners, gloves up and spitting mad that the new race date is two weeks before Comrades meaning that they must choose between the two biggest and most prestigious distance races in South Africa in 2026.
In the right corner, you had the ‘a marathon is far enough’ camp, gloves up and spitting mad at runners who think the world revolves around the Comrades Marathon (and also seemingly very upset at ‘entitled’ Comrades runners being very upset).
Continue reading “Save the Date (An evaluation of Cape Town Marathon’s date change)”
Just when South African runners thought it was safe to go back onto the internet after Cape Town Marathon’s new race date announcement, the Comrades Marathon decided it was time to get their share of the social media limelight with the announcement of staggered starts for the first time in the race’s 104-year-old history.
Continue reading “Staggered Starts (Comrades introduces the Two Pot System)”
First off, let’s give some credit where it’s due. KwaZulu Natal Athletics (KZNA) Vice President Mandla Mngomezulu is a masterful spin doctor, perhaps even surpassing his boss Steve Mkasi (the Surgeon General of spin doctoring), with this latest press release. If Spin Dr. Mngomezulu had written a press release for Manchester United after they were beaten by Tottenham Hotspurs last weekend, you would swear that United had won the game and were still in the title race rather than hovering just above relegation.
Unfortunately, it appears that the KZNA executive take their runners for fools. Fortunately, no one is buying their nonsense. I doubt anyone outside of the undemocratic Republic of Mkasistan would give much credence to anything coming out of the KZNA offices these days. However, lest there be any doubt, I’ve taken the time to dissect the document.
Continue reading “Lies, Damn Lies & KZN Athletics Media Statements”
Today the Pietermaritzburg High Court gave a final ruling on the urgent interdict that Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) members brought against KZNA. The origin of the urgent interdict was after KZNA attempted to institute an autocratic ‘locals only ruling’ less than 48 hours before a contentious Special AGM in August 2024. The SGM was called by CMA members after a series of scandals involving corruption, maladministration and racism at Comrades House which was further ignited by Zinhle Sokhela’s disgraceful ‘Vanillagate’ WhatsApp message.
Continue reading “Another Victory for CMA Members against overbearing KZNA”
Earlier today, the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) announced that the qualification time for the 2025 event would revert to 5h00 for a standard marathon. The qualification time was changed from 5h00 to 4h50 for the 2019 event. This article provides statistical analysis on the Comrades finish rates between various qualification times and a brief history of Comrades qualification criteria.
The requirement to run a qualifying marathon was introduced in 1975 (the same year that women and non-white athletes were officially allowed to take part). At that stage Comrades could only accommodate 1,500 entrants, was heavily oversubscribed and the 4h30 qualification was a way to ensure that those entering Comrades had the best chance of being able to finish. There was not (and never has been) a medical reason requiring the running of a qualification marathon.
Did it work? I would say, “Yes”. The 1975 Comrades had a finish rate of 91.5% which was the highest ever up to that point. However, the impact might not have been as dramatic as some would expect – the preceding five Comrades had finish rates of 84.3%, 87.7%, 82.7%, 89.7% and 86.1% respectively*.
Continue reading “The impact of 4h50 vs 5h00 Comrades qualification (and a short history of Comrades qualification criteria)”
The 2024 Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) got off to a slow start. The meeting was due to start at 10:00 and at 10:04 interim CMA Chair Jeff Minnaar got proceedings underway. After giving some special welcomes, he thanked CMA members for sacrificing their Black Friday weekend shopping excursions and promised they’d be able to get their discounted shopping fix around 12 noon. This seemed like an unlikely and overly optimistic estimate – and we had not even got to the first motion on the agenda by 12:30. Any doubts as to the validity of Minnaar’s estimation were further exacerbated with the announcement that the AGM would be delayed “for at least 15 minutes as there is a major traffic jam in Pietermaritzburg.”
This page will be used to provide live updates on the voting, motions and discussions from the 2024 Comrades Marathon Association Annual General Meeting due to start at 10am SAST. Refresh page for latest updates…
That’s over an out after an almost 8 hour AGM. I’ll write up a summary tomorrow.
Top five get two year terms, next two get a one year term. This is a great new Board!
Here’s the final results
Mark Leathers 278
Willie Mtolo 254
Mqondisi Ngcobo 240
Brenda Marolen 240
Carel Nolte 228
Rory Steyn 222
Alan Gray 207
Continue reading “CMA 2024 AGM: Live Blog”
Whilst most of the focus has been on the nominees for the seven available Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) Board position at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), there are some other important motions to be discussed and voted for at the 30 November meeting.
Below are details of the CMA constitutional amendment motions, standard motions and consideration for the financial statements.
Continue reading “What’s on the agenda? CMA AGM on 30 November”