Comrades Archives - Page 3 of 12

26th August 202527th August 2025

The Three Big Problems at Comrades 2025

Foreword

Over the past few editions of Comrades, I’ve had quite a bit to write about after the event. This year it was a pleasant change to be able to focus on the statistics and a few runner stories rather than the controversies. Yes, there were a few issues and several people have asked if I’ll be writing about them. My reply has been “Yes, but it’s not time critical.”

The big difference this year was that the CMA board took accountability of the issues, apologised and (in my opinion) are serious about addressing them in 2026. This makes a stark contrast to previous years when the approach has been to deny, stonewall and wait for things to die down before the carpets are lifted and fervent sweeping occurs.

By far the biggest issue was the finish area. I generally tackle issues that are not getting mainstream press attention and the street finish got plenty of coverage. The other two issues I’ve decided to focus on, based on the number of messages and comments that I’ve seen and received, are the missing elite tables and the allegedly contaminated water sachets.

22nd August 202522nd August 2025

Comrades 2025: Elite Women’s Stats

This is part of a series of statistics articles on Comrades 2025. Other articles published: entry stats, shoe s t ats, qualification marathon stats, elite men. Other articles to come: full field and statistics.

All Time Fastest Down Times & Pace

The tables below show the all-time Comrades Down run pace and time charts. I place more emphasis on pace.

Gerda was made to work for her win today but is still in a class of her own. She now has the top two positions on the pace chart. Gerda can thank Ann Ashworth for an extra R500k prize money breaking the fastest ever pace record (one of the many innovations Ashworth introduced in 2024). Morozova would have won almost any other year but has to settle for second and the third fastest down pace.

21st August 202521st August 2025

Comrades 2025: Elite Men’s Stats

This is part of a series of statistics articles on Comrades 2025. Other articles published: entry stats, shoe s t ats, qualification marathon stats. Other articles to come: elite women, elite men and full field statistics.

All Time Fastest Down Times & Pace

The tables below show the all-time Comrades Down run pace and time charts. I place more emphasis on pace.

Only the podium finishers from the class of 2025 make it onto the fastest 30 all-time Down runners by pace: Dijana in 5^th, Wiersma just behind in 6^th and Volkov in 22^nd. Wiersma just behind Dijana is becoming a pattern and the two occupy four spaces in the Top 6.

9th August 20259th August 2025

Comrades 2025: Qualifier Marathon Stats

This is part of a series of statistics articles on Comrades 2025. Other articles published: entry stats, shoe s t ats. Other articles to come: elite women, elite men and full field statistics.

Getting Provincial

Whilst 38% of the field comes from Gauteng, only 24% use marathons within the province to qualify. KZN are more parochial with 18% of the field and 16% using the province for qualification purposes. Many runners travel for their qualification marathon with the Western Cape (9% of entrants but over 20% of qualifiers) and Mpumalanga (4% of entrants but almost 15% of qualifiers) getting most of the tourism benefit.

2nd August 20259th August 2025

Comrades 2025: Shoe Stats

This is part of a series of statistics articles on Comrades 2025. Other articles published: entry stats, qualifier stats. Other articles to come: elite women, elite men, full field statistics.

Asics retains their dominant the market share with 1 in 3 medallists stomping down to Durban in their footwear. In 2024 Adidas and Nike were joint second on 16% but the three-striped brand moves into clear second with a rapid rise to 22%. The Nike wearers who’d just done it in 2024 are now either in a period of ultra abstinence or have swapped brands dropping them to 13%, narrowly ahead of New Balance with 11%. The rise of Adidas and fall of Nike is marked by a comparison 2022: Adidas have moved from 11 to 22% and Nike from 20 to 13% in just three years. Over half the finishers (55%) cross the line wearing one of the two A-brands and combining the two N-brands brings this to 4 out of 5 finishers.

26th July 202526th July 2025

Running Comrades with Type 1 Diabetes?

Kate Jones was recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. She is planning to run Comrades in 2027 and would like to get into contact with other Comrades runners who suffer with this chronic autoimmune condition about training and race day approaches.

Kate, an actuary by trade, completed her first marathon in Melbourne last year in a very respectable 3:39 and is currently training for the Sydney Marathon. These are all stepping for stones for her “biggest goal over for the next few years” – Comrades.

Kate Jones completed her first marathon at the 2024 Melbourne Marathon in 3:39.

6th July 20256th July 2025

Comrades 2025 Runner Stories: A 24 minute negative split for an 11:59:38 finish

One of the Comrades stats I am interested in every year is, “Who goes through Drummond the slowest and still earns a medal?”

There are usually just a handful of people who go through Drummond and cross the finish line under 12 hours and someone going through Drummond over 6h10 and earning a medal is a rarity. This year the distance from the Drummond timing mat to the finish meant that the second ‘half’ was 380m longer making a negative split an even more impressive feat.

3rd July 20253rd July 2025

Maretha & her medals (An outlier amongst Outliers)

Every now and again I get asked an interesting question that deserves its own article. In this case the asker was Maretha Smit and the question was, “Do you know who has the most Isavel Roche-Kelly medals? Introduced in 2019, the maximum possible is 5. I have 4.” But, before answering the question, I think we should take a look at how Maretha earned her medals…

Maretha was a good athlete at school specialising as a 100m sprinter. She played first team netball at Hoërskool Roodepoort and earned provincial colours for athletics. As her 21^st birthday approached, she had an unusual birthday present request – a half marathon entry. Her dad was happy to oblige – they travelled down to the Cape and ran the 2010 Two Oceans half marathon together finishing in 2:11:38 and, despite not being able to walk properly for two weeks afterwards, Maretha’s love of distance running was born.

Maretha (on the right in a blue shirt) finishes her first half marathon as her 21st birthday present of choice with her dad (on the left in the white shirt).

19th June 202520th June 2025

Scents & Sensibility: Man in a can ran Comrades wearing 13kg deodorant outfit

Sometimes people make stupid bets when they’re drunk. Luc Quevauvilliers does not drink alcohol so he cannot fall back on that excuse. However, he still thought it would be a good idea to run Comrades dressed as a giant can of Shield deodorant. The suit weighed 13 kilograms. He only had one chance beforehand to do a short practice run. The second time he put the suit on was at the Comrades Expo. He hoped that Comrades race day would be third time lucky. People should stop blaming alcohol when men make stupid decisions…

There was however an excellent reason behind this madness: An R80,000 donation to the SANParks Honorary Rangers (one of the official Comrades charities). Luc explained that his reason for supporting this charity is, “SANParks look after 19 national parks including Kruger National Park and Table Mountain National Park, who with the help of charity donations are able to bridge the gaps in funding for important conservation efforts. I love our country and all the incredible wildlife and natural beauty we have, so donating to them is essential to help keep our amazing wildlife well looked after for generations to come.”

Actual photo of the moment Luc jumped at the opportunity run Comrades as a can of deodorant to secure a R80,000 donation for SANParks.

17th June 202517th June 2025

From Gunshot to Glory: Prince’s Brave Comrades Journey

On a Tuesday evening in Ivory Park, Tembisa just two weeks before Comrades, aspirant novice runner Prince Ṋemuṱanzhela was relaxing with his family at home. Comrades training is hard work and Prince had trained hard. It was now time to taper and get the body and mind ready for a first journey between Pietermaritzburg and Durban.

Prince was chatting to a friend while his wife Asnath was getting their two young children, a 12-year-old son and 4-year-old-daughter, ready for bed. Their eldest, a 19-year-old daughter, was also in the house. The relaxed atmosphere was shattered when two men with guns burst into the living room and started making demands.

Prince and his friend froze in shock and the armed robbers responded by shooting both men. Prince was shot through the right arm. He was lucky, the bullet went through his arm missing bone and arteries. His friend was not so lucky and was killed.