Norrie Williamson Archives - The Running Mann

4th September 20249th September 2024

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

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 The interim CMA Board has officially withdrawn its opposition to the High Court case due to be heard on 23 October.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.

2nd September 20242nd September 2024

Durban International Marathon (where the meat is tougher than the marathon)

[MARATHON #267 / UNIQUE MARATHON #162 / 28 April 2024]

A lot can change in a few months. On the last weekend of April, I attended the Durban International Marathon (which doubles as the South African Marathon Championships), as the guest of Steve Mkasi and KwaZulu Natal Athletics. Before accepting the invitation, I did double-check that he was happy that I would be writing things “as I saw it” and Mkasi graciously agreed, “Regarding coverage, please be as brutally frank with your experience. We need you to be as objective as possible. Therefore, we are happy for you to play your role unscripted.”

15th July 202415th July 2024

Comrades 2024 Cutoffs: A lesson in gun control

After the 2023 Comrades cutoffs cost several hundred runners their medal, some changes were expected in 2024. What was the net positive gain? 487 athletes converted despair to glory. These 487 would have been cutoff in 2024 had the times not been made more lenient. However, what is surprising, is that there is still resistance from certain members of the Board to make sensible adjustments to cutoff times.

What follows are details and in depth analysis of the who, how and what of cutoffs at Comrades 2024…

5th June 20245th June 2024

What’s New & Improved at Comrades 2024?

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.

20th May 202421st May 2024

Two Oceans Board member (and former chairperson) calls cutoff issue ‘trivial matter’

It is in times of great turmoil that you hope for a hero. Someone who will step forward to create sense and order from the chaos. Someone who will do the right thing when others cower and hide. Someone who will act with the maturity and integrity that their peers seem incapable of.

As William Shakespeare said, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” It was indeed another William who raised his hand amidst the turmoil of the Two Oceans cutoff saga. William Swartbooi is a current Two Oceans Board member and former chairperson of the organisation.

This William is part of a Board that has stumbled over sensibility, tripped over truthfulness and trampled on the hopes and dreams of the runners they are meant to serve. If William Shakespeare were alive today, no doubt the Bard of Avon would shake his head in dismay and observe on the current Board of Bergvliet, “Some are born stupid, some achieve stupidity, and some have stupidity thrust upon them.”

17th May 202418th May 2024

Comrades 2024: Polly Shortts cutoff likely to kill the dreams of hundreds

Executive Summary: If you make the final cutoff at Comrades 2024 by 1 second you will need to run at a ‘slowest possible pace’ of 7:20/km to finish under 12 hours. If back-of-the-pack runners can run faster than this over the last split, it means that the cutoff is wrong and will result in Comrades runners losing out on a medal. Data analysis from the last Up run in 2019 shows that over 1000 Vic Clapham medallists and hundreds of last 10 minute finishers ran faster than this. Therefore the current cutoff is badly calculated and will rob potentially hundreds of Comrades runners of a medal.

The good news is that we’ll see runners on the field during the last minute before cutoff this year. The bad news is that we’ll still be a few hundred runners short of a full field.

After the cutoff debacle at Comrades 2023, the Comrades 2024 cutoffs were always going to come under scrutiny. When the original Comrades 2024 cutoffs were published, several people pointed out some serious potential flaws. It was encouraging to see that new Race and Operations Manager, Ann Ashworth, listened to the feedback and took them back for review.

10th July 202310th July 2023

The Nightmare on Epworth Street (Safety negligence at Comrades breaks bones and shatters dreams)

Channelle Makhele started Comrades 2023 with the dream of earning a Bill Rowan medal. That dream was shattered before the 5-kilometre mark. Channelle’s aspirations and eight months of hard training were smashed before dawn over the nightmare on Epworth Street. She was looking to break her best Comrades time but all she broke was her leg.

6th July 20237th July 2023

The Empire Strikes Back (but not very hard)

On Friday the 30^th June, an article appeared on the South African Runner’s World page written by long-time editor Mike Finch entitled “Comrades Cut-Off Drama: Organisers Respond”. According to various credible sources, Finch is a paid contractor to the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) – which is undisclosed in the article. It appears that Finch has become a stool pigeon for the CMA.

The response to the article on Facebook has been overwhelmingly negative towards Runner’s World. Runners are not stupid and can see through the façade.

Based on recent events, and because Comrades was originally run on Empire Day, I have decided to use what is arguably the best of the Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back, as a simile to respond to the Runner’s World puff piece (and of course try to bring some balance back to the force).

25th May 202323rd June 2023

Comrades 2022 Overall / Full Field Race Stats

This is part of a trilogy of articles providing an in-depth statistical analysis of Comrades 2022. The articles on Elite Men and Elite Women are also available.

Getting to the Start

The graph below is a hurricane funnel answering the often-asked question, “What happens to all the entries?”

16479 enter, 1688 don’t bother to submit a qualifier, 661 don’t make it to registration, 916 collect their race pack but don’t start and 1503 fall on the road to Durban leaving us with 11711 Comrades 2022 finishers.