On Sunday 11 June , the 96th edition of the Comrades Marathon will start in Pietermaritzburg and finish 12 hours later in Durban . This is the Ultimate Human Race , with more than 100 years of history , tradition , heroes , drama , elation , achievements and more , and once again , this grand old race will capture the attention of the whole nation . To get you ready for the big race day , welcome to a special Comrades Marathon section . As the race slogan says , it ’ s here … This is it … Ziyasha ! – BY SEAN FALCONER ( with DELAINE COOLS )
In the early hours of a cold mid-winter ’ s morning , Max Trimborn ’ s famous cockcrow will ring out , just before the start of the world-famous Comrades Marathon , and then the thousands of runners lined up will set off for Durban . What lies ahead of them is the world ’ s biggest ultramarathon , and much of the route will be lined by tens of thousands of supporters , all cheering from the sidelines , while millions more will be watching the live broadcast on television .
This will be the 48th Down Run from
Pietermaritzburg to Durban . The 2022 race was also a Down Run , and normally the direction is reversed from one year to the next , but this year will see a second consecutive Down Run due the ongoing roadworks in and around Pietermaritzburg . Now , let ’ s look at a few more aspects of the race .
THE ROUTE
Getting from Maritzburg to Durban
START : The race will start at 5:30am in front of the Pietermaritzburg City Hall in Chief Albert Luthuli Street . The race will finish at 5:30pm in Durban , and the race will be run from ‘ gun to gun ,’ with the final cut-off gun fired exactly 12 hours after the starting shot . CMA Race Director Rowyn James advises runners to make their way to the start of the race early . “ Due to the ongoing N3 roadworks , we ask that all of our athletes make their way to the Pietermaritzburg City Hall early to avoid the traffic congestion and potentially miss the start of the race .”
The long road to Durban awaits the thousands of runners
DISTANCE : The official distance of this year ’ s Comrades Marathon will be 87.701km . That means it will be nearly 2.2km shorter than last year ’ s 89.885km , mainly due to the finish moving , but also due to road works along the route between the two cities . It is worth noting that the race distance was 89.208km the last time that the race finished at Kingsmead in 2016 , the same year in which David Gatebe set the current best men ’ s Down Run time of 5:18:19 . Furthermore , when Frith van der Merwe set the still standing women ’ s best Down Run time of 5:54:43 in 1989 , also at Kingsmead , the distance was 89.6km . ( The difference in distances over the years is mainly due to the roadworks and varying routes taken on the run out of Pietermaritzburg .)
The Comrades Marathon start … always a mix of excitement and nervousness
FINISH : This year ’ s Comrades Marathon Down Run will have a different finish as it returns to the Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium after a seven-year break . The Moses Mabhida Stadium ( MMS ) hosted the Down Run finish in 2018 and 2022 , but when the Comrades returned to its traditional date of the second Sunday in June , after last year ’ s race date in August , the MMS had already been booked to host the 2023 Cosafa Cup .
The official distance of the 2023 race will be 87.7km
CUT-OFFS : There will be five intermediate cut-off points along the route , and runners who fail to pass these points within the maximum allowed time will be asked to leave the route and make use of provided bus transport to the finish :
Cut-off Km to Go Km Run Run Time Time of Day Cato Ridge 57.40km 30.30km 4:30:00 10am Drummond 43.33km 44.37km 6:10:00 11:40am Winston Park 30km 57.70km 8:10:00 1:40pm Pinetown 18.84km 68.86km 9:20:00 2:50pm Sherwood 6.39km 81.31km 11:00:00 4:30pm
Images : Courtesy Comrades Marathon Association
14 ISSUE 159 | www . modernathlete . co . za The elation of finishing the Ultimate Human Race