Green Means Go !
The 2023 Comrade Marathon will be the 96th edition of the race , and the 48th edition of the Down Run , but there are many other milestones that will be recorded in this race , notably by the owners of the Green and Yellow Numbers . – BY SEAN FALCONER
Images : Courtesy Comrades Marathon , Louis Massyn , Barry Holland , Colin Goosen
Some say that to call yourself a Comrades runner , you can ’ t just run it once , you need to run both the Up and Down Runs . And if you really want to be taken seriously as a Comrades runner , then you need to run it 10 times , to earn your permanent Green Number . Of course , that ’ s not at all true , but the achievement of a Green Number is considered a real badge of honour amongst South African runners .
When the starting gun is fired for the 2023 Comrades Marathon , amongst the 17,000-odd runners making their way from Pietermaritzburg to Durban will be 2081 runners wearing Green Numbers . A further 406 athletes will be wearing yellow race numbers , which denotes that they will be aiming to finish the race for the 10th time , and thus can be inducted into the Comrades Marathon Green Number Club .
Traditionally runners retain their race numbers from year to year , but after completing 10 Comrades Marathons , the runner is awarded his / her Green Number in perpetuity , meaning that it is henceforth reserved for its owner . Since the first
Sarah Eksteen received her Green Number in 2022 from Comrades legends Bruce Fordyce , Tilda Tearle and Grace De Oliveira
Louis Massyn ( 47 medals ) with Hercu Hofmeyr ( 39 medals ), pictured together after this year ’ s Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon
Comrades in 1921 , a total of 13,626 runners have completed the race 10 or more times , thus earning their place on the coveted Comrades Green Number Roll of Honour . ( It is also possible to earn a Green Number with either 3 Comrades wins or 5 Comrades gold medals .)
Multiple Greens
Of course , just finishing the race 10 times is simply not enough for some runners , and so there will also be 91 runners aiming to finish the race for the 20th time and earn their Double Green – so named because there is a double laurel around the number on the patch awarded to these runners . Furthermore , 18 athletes will be going for their Triple Green 30th medal ( 16 men and two women ).
Even more remarkably , one athlete , Hercu Hofmeyr , will be aiming for his 40th . If he successfully completes the race this year , he will gain membership to the exclusive Quadruple Green club , which currently has just 18 members . Meanwhile , Kovalan Moodley will be going after his 39th medal , and will no doubt have aspirations of running his 40th in 2024 .
No matter whether going for 40 or 10 , another tradition at Comrades is for runners earning a Green Number to be handed their new number by one or more Comrades legends , such as former winners Bruce Fordyce or Tilda Tearle . That means the runner not only receives their new Green Number , but also has their photo taken with a race legend , to make the memory even more special .
Most Exclusive Comrades Clubs
Only a small number of male runners in the history of the Comrades Marathon have completed the race 40 or more times , and an even smaller number of women have managed 30 or more finishes . The 18 men and six women listed below are therefore members of the two most exclusive Comrades Clubs .
The record for the most Comrades Marathon finishes is held by Barry Holland , who has completed 48 , while Kleintjie Van Schalkwyk ’ s 34 medals makes her the leading women ’ s finisher of the race . Keep in mind , however , that women were not allowed to participate prior to 1975 , so they have only been officially part of the race for the last 45 editions .
The most recent addition to the Quadruple Green Club was Colin Goosen , seen here receiving his Quadruple Green from ‘ fellow 40 ’ Louis Massyn after the 2022 race
Barry Holland holds the record for the most Comrades finishes , with 48 medals to date
Men with Quadruple Green 48 Barry Holland 47 Louis Massyn 45 Dave Rodgers 44 Vic Boston 43 Alan Robb |
43 Wiestsche van der Westhuizen 42 Clive Crawley 42 Dave Lowe 42 Zwelitsha Gono 42 Mike Cowling |
42 David Williams 41 Tommy Neitski 40 Kenny Craig 40 Riel Hugo 40 Shaun Wood 40 Boysie van Staden |
40 Johann van Eeden 40 Colin Goosen
Women with Triple Green 34 Kleintjie van Schalkwyk 32 Patricia Fisher
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31 Pat Freeman 30 Tilda Tearle 30 Kim Pain 30 Toni Hesp |
Note : Runners whose names appear in bold are running in 2023 , looking to add yet another medal to their tally !
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