Humorous Anecdotes, Observations & Accounts of Marathon Running & Agile Adventures.
All posts related to the Comrades Marathon
There were lots of great supporter signs along the Comrades route but the one below held by this young lady in the Kloof area was my favourite. In fact, it was the only sign I took a picture of during the race. I thanked her and departed with the profound, “Cool daughters run Comrades when they are older!”
Many tears are shed during an ultra marathon. Many tears are shed after an ultra marathon. However, Comrades is the only race that is able to open the waterworks before the starting gun even fires.
Dave Williams has been there to hear it all. From Max Trimborn’s iconic rooster crow (including the last time he performed it live in 1980) to the introduction of Chariots of Fire in 1985 to the addition of the National Anthem as democracy dawned in 1994 to the spontaneous eruption of Shosholoza the following year.
On June 14 we’ll get to hear Max Trimborn’s recorded rooster crow, the emotional strings of Chariots of Fire, the pride of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and the rousing chorus of Shosholoza. A lot of things have been added to the Comrades start over the years but one thing will be missing from the Comrades start line for the first time in over 50 years… Dave Williams.
This is a guest blog by award winning Swedish journalist Daniel Westergren. The article has been translated from Swedish. The original article can be found here: https://ultramarathon.se/artiklar/comrades-2026-starkaste-faeltet-nagonsin
The world’s oldest and largest ultramarathon, the Comrades Marathon in South Africa, takes place for the 99th time on Sunday. The men’s field is the best ever, with 7 of the 10 fastest 100 km runners of all time up against all the best South Africans.
The first edition of the Comrades Marathon was held in 1921. Thirty-four men ran from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, in memory of the soldiers who served in the First World War. In 1923 the first woman, Frances Hayward, took part, and in 1935 the first Black runner, Robert Mtshali. But neither of their times was recorded, as the race was open only to white men. It was not until 1975 that both women and runners of colour were welcomed.
Continue reading “The True Full List of Comrades 2026 Contenders”
Clear your calendar on Sunday 14 June, the greatest ultra marathon on the planet is about to get the greatest live coverage – and it’s all available completely free worldwide on YouTube. You might have struggled to stay awake during the Avatar sequels but you’ll be riveted to the screen on the best Sunday of the year with 14 hours of uninterrupted Comrades coverage.
YouTube Live Direct Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/tYkUELS-Fps
Continue reading “Chasing the Gun: The Ultimate Human Race Just Got the Ultimate Broadcast”
I am a well-trained husband. It’s taken the better part of 20 years but I am now mostly domesticated and largely housebroken.
My wife Kathy ran the 2007 Down run. I seconded her that year. It was hard work and a stressful job. She got out of running the 2008 Up run (just before doing her long run I should add) by falling pregnant. Kathy ran several more marathons and Two Oceans ultras but never felt the urge to return to Comrades.
This article is being updated continually in the build-up to Comrades 2026. After 14 June I will start with stats on elite men and women, full field, etc. in separate articles.
Continue reading “Comrades 2026: Startline Stats”
If you think running a negative split at Comrades is tough you should have tried to achieve this feat at the 2022 Down run when the second “half” (from the Drummond timing mat) was 2.2km longer than the first. In fact, there was just one person who finished under 7h30 and managed this accomplishment – Lindt De La Port.
What is even more impressive is that, weighing in at 90 kilograms and bearing a Afrikaner-Portuguese hybrid physique that resembles fortified (rather than fine) wine, de la Port is the heaviest person to achieve a Silver medal that I know of (if there is a heavier Silver medallist out there please let me know).
But it’s one thing to earn a Silver on the Down run when you’ve got gravity on your side – what about carrying all that cargo up to Pietermaritzburg? In my 2022 stats report I called Lindt the ‘prince of pacing’ but could de la Port upgrade to ‘crown prince’ status at the 2024 Up run?
Continue reading “The Best Comrades Up Run Silver of All Time?”
[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 joint statement, Comrades and Two Oceans announced that they would be doing away with qualification marathons and the need for South African athletes to qualify at their respective 2027 events. International athletes would still need to submit a qualifier. This comes after the announcement of a new AI running database called KONA (an acronym for Knowledge Of National Athletes) that has been “fully tested and implemented”.
AI KONA’s engine will automatically evaluate results databases and Strava profiles to determine which athletes are most likely to finish each race and will automatically select those athletes in the ballot system. The developers believe that the system is over 99.9% accurate at predicting whether or not a specific runner will finish within the cutoff time.
Continue reading “AI to replace qualifiers at 2027 Comrades & Two Oceans Marathons”
This is part of a series of statistics articles on Comrades 2025. Other articles published: entry stats, shoe stats, qualification marathon stats, elite men, elite women.
Now time to get onto the really serious statistics – how does your star sign impact your performance at the Comrades Marathon? Full disclosure: As a Taurus, I am naturally far too pragmatic, sensible and stubborn to believe in nonsense like astrology but thought I’d humour the gullible Pisces and Cancerians out there.
Libras are the fastest to qualify and the fastest on the day, Sagittarian entrants are the most likely to arrive at the start and Pisces have the best chance of finishing. I have deliberately used a scale that that makes minor differences look statistically significant.
Continue reading “Comrades 2025: Silly Stats”
This is part of a series of statistics articles on Comrades 2025. Other articles published: entry stats, shoe stats, qualification marathon stats, elite men, elite women.
The graph below is a hurricane funnel answering the often-asked question, “What happens to all the entries?”, plotting the fate of the 24,173 Comrades 2025 entries. There was a 6% attrition rate on qualification and 13.2% to get to the start line. This is significantly lower than in recent years with the more relaxed qualification times playing a role.
I’ve included three percentages for comparison – they are based on total entries, total starters and total finishers respectively (e.g. 3.2% of entries finish under 7h30, 3.6% of starters and 4.2% of medallists). A much more detailed analysis on the medal breakdowns as well as overall finish success rates comparisons are available later within this article.
Continue reading “Comrades 2025: Full Field Stats”