Comrades South Africa – The Ultimate Human Race

Intro

Picture this: 17,000 runners, 100,000+ friends, family and fans lining both sides of the road encouraging the runners along the entire 88Km route from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.

The Ultimate Human Race

The Comrades Marathon also known as the ‘Ultimate Human Race’ is an ultramarathon of approximately 89 kilometres (55 mi) which is run annually in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

It is the world’s largest and oldest ultramarathon race. The direction of the race alternates each year between the “up” run (90 km) starting from Durban and the “down” run (now 88 km) starting from Pietermaritzburg.

17000 Entrants

2354 international runners from 84 countries entered into the 2023 Comrades Marathon.

According to the Comrades Marathon Association the lion’s share of runners were from India with 403 athletes, Zimbabwe with 255, the UK with 224, the US with 173 and Brazil with 142.

How it All Began

The Comrades was run for the first time on 24 May 1921 (Empire Day), and with the exception of a break during World War II, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic-impacted 2020, has been run every year since. To date, over 300,000 runners have completed the race.

The race was the idea of World War I veteran Vic Clapham, to commemorate the South African soldiers killed during the war. Clapham, who had endured a 2,700-kilometre route march through sweltering German East Africa, wanted the memorial to be a unique test of the physical endurance of the entrants. The constitution of the race states that one of its primary aims is to “celebrate humanity’s spirit over adversity”.

Celebrating Humanity’s Spirit over Adversity

Comrades Marathon Association

2023 Winners

“Go Gerda, go!” “Tete, Tete, Tete!” These were the cries roaring through Kingsmead Cricket Stadium today as South African heroes Gerda Steyn and Tete Dijana came down the final stretch of grass, both winning their second Comrades Marathon titles, and both setting new records for the down-run.

I felt I was carried by people screaming for me.

Gerda Steyn

My own Experience

Years ago running was one of my passions. I did many marathons and ultramarathons in South Africa. The Two Oceans in Cape Town is the most scenic – it is known as the ‘most beautiful marathon in the world’ for a good reason.

But of all the marathons I have completed Comrades was the best. It takes place in a beautiful part of the country, it is challenging with hill after hill and the atmosphere is electrifying: the camaraderie between runners, the incredible support from thousands of people motivating you along the way – people you never met.

This is a very safe race, the water stations (every 2 ½ to 3 ½ km’s) are incredibly well organised with coke, energade, water, potatoes, bananas there are water baths should you need to cool yourself down while running, you will see many, many people braaing (barbecuing) along the way and many of them offering you a boerewors roll* or two.

*The South African variant of the hot dog which is a piece of boerewors in a hot dog bun, often served with a tomato, chili and onion relish or chakalaka. Simply delicious. Enjoy them but once you have completed the race😋😋

If you live in South Africa and enjoy sport activities Comrades is a must do!

Visit site: Comrades.com >

Featured image: sapeople.com >