STATISTICS
Entry Stats & Facts # 3
Nothing makes a statistically-minded runner like me more excited than getting my hands on a database as rich in info as the Comrades Marathon entries database, and I had hours of fun going through it all and finding these interesting stats and stories. – BY THE RUNNING MANN
QUALIFYING MARATHONS
Cape Town maintains its position as the most popular qualifying option for Comrades runners, with Elands( a downhill flyer and fourth-largest in 2024) the only other marathon to break 1000. Durban International breaks into the Top 3 after being sixth on the list in 2024. Kaapsehoop( another downhill flyer) drops from second to fourth, but the‘ big loser’ is Two Oceans, moving from third to ninth.
Gauteng dominates the table with eight events in the Top 20. The only other provinces represented are Western Cape( 4), KwaZulu Natal( 3), Mpumalanga( 3), Eastern Cape and Free State.
This year, Benoni Harriers reclaims the battle of Benoni,‘ beating’ Benoni Northerns by 10 qualifiers over. However, Benoni Northerns also have by the slowest average qualifying time of 4:19:14, and that is taking into account adjusted times for those that used the 48km option for their qualifier. The second-slowest average is the Irene 48km, with a marathon-adjusted time of 4:17:42. The pancake flat Durban City produces the fastest average time for the second year in a row( 3:54:22) with Cape Town, Duban International and Tony Viljoen Masters the only others to average under four hours. The overall average qualifying time for Comrades 2025 entrants is 4:03:29.
low numbers in September, December and January explained by the lower number of marathons available during those months. Comrades changed the qualification period to a full year, but the marathon calendar still needs to catch up – only 1 % of the field qualifies between June and August. Last-minute qualifications are the order of the day for 11 % of the field, who qualify on the first weekend of May.
A standard marathon is the qualification distance of choice, with 89 % of 2025 qualifiers going this route. Most of the remaining 11 % run a‘ short’ ultra( 48km to 56km), which generally have a much easier average pace for seeding. There are 24 runners who qualified with a run of 60km or longer, including seven athletes who’ ve really flexed their running muscles by using a 100km qualifier. Amongst this group, perhaps the most interesting to watch out for as an‘ unknown surprise package’ on 8 June is the Frenchman, Guillaume Ruel who ran a 6:13:42 at the 100km Orange Curtain race in Los Angeles.
This year, I’ ve added in the finishers of each event to work out the percentage that used the race for their qualifier. Incredibly, 44 % of Durban International and 41 % of Elands runners use these events to qualify. Other marathons above 33 % are Dolphin Coast, BNAC, Durban City and Sasolburg. On the low end are Two Oceans 6 %, Peninsula 12 %( which had a terrible headwind this year) and Cape Town 17 %.
Whilst 38 % of the field comes from Gauteng, only 26 % use marathons within their home province to qualify. KZN runners are more parochial, with 18 % of the field overall, and 17 % using their own province for qualification purposes. Many runners travel for their qualification marathon, with the Western Cape( 9 % of entrants, but 23 % of qualifiers) and Mpumalanga( 4 % of entrants, but 16 % of qualifiers) getting most of the tourism benefit.( Note: There were 2020 entrants with“ Other” as their qualification marathon, which is excluded from the data. Many international runners fall into this category, so the International percentage is lower than it should be.)
The most popular qualification month is March, with 23 %, while October, largely off the back of the Cape Town Marathon, is second with 16 %, followed by April with 15 %. The rest of the qualification period is fairly evenly spread out, with the
22