The stage is set for a potentially historic edition of the Comrades Marathon, with the shortest up run route in recent memory( 85.777km) opening the door for recordbreaking performances between Durban and Pietermaritzburg on 14 June.
Defending champions Gerda Steyn and Tete Dijana return as the headline acts. But for Dijana, this year presents a different challenge. The three-time champion has established himself as one of the great down-run specialists of the modern era, but an up-run victory remains the missing piece in an already glittering Comrades résumé.
“ My training and preparation is going well so far, can’ t complain,” said Dijana ahead of race day. Despite his dominance over the downhill route, the 38-year-old Hollywood Athletics Club runner remains refreshingly honest about where he feels most comfortable.
And because all his wins have come in Durban, rather than Pietermaritzburg, Dijana feels the pressure is off for this year’ s race.“ There is no pressure on winning the up run. So it is important to me, but no pressure.”
Dijana has also resisted the temptation to overhaul a formula that has already delivered much success.
“ My training didn’ t change at all,” he explained.“ I just have to stick to what works for me.” Dijana’ s quest for a fourth title will not only be challenged by a strong local field, which includes teammate and 2019 up-run winner, Edward Mothibi, but also by an impressive international contingent. Among them is defending up-run champion Piet Wiersma of the Netherlands, Lithuanian ultrarunner Aleksandr Sorokin and Britain’ s Alex Milne, who finished sixth last year.
Steyn appears equally composed as she targets another chapter in her remarkable Comrades story. The four-time champion, who has been preparing in the French Alps, secured an incredible seventh straight Two Oceans title in April.
In typical fashion, the 36-year-old recently revealed that her longest training run ahead of Comrades was“ only” 50km.
“ That is my recipe and why would I fix something that is not broken?” she posted on social media.“ I love a long run and would happily do more of them, but long runs are not the only ones that count.”
Instead, the two-time Olympian focuses on balance and consistency during the demanding final weeks before race day.
“ I always handle the last few weeks of training with extra caution,” Steyn wrote.“ The ideal is to find the fine line between doing too little and too much.
“ A wise man who has won the race 9 times will tell you that being undertrained is better than being overtrained, yet so many runners arrive at the start line feeling exhausted from all the training.”
For the always-smiling Steyn, the Comrades remains about far more than medals and times.
“ I feel like I am still learning so much about how to run it and every year brings a different perspective,” she said of lining up for the ninth time this year.“ Through the years, Comrades has evolved into this amazing movement of camaraderie and the stories that have come from it … unreal.
“ The distance is one thing, but the real race is much bigger than that,” she wrote.“ We run what is in front of us, race those who line up next to us, overcome the limitations inside of us, and that is what it is all about.”
Now, with another iconic Sunday approaching on 14 June and records potentially under threat, both champions return to the start line carrying different ambitions, but sharing the same goal of once again mastering the Ultimate Human Race.
Bruce Fordyce’ s top picks
The nine-time Comrades champion gave us a list of his top contenders for the men’ s and women’ s titles:
Men:
• Piet Wiersma( Netherlands)
• Tete Dijana( SA)
• George Kusche( SA)
• Aleksandr Sorokin( Lithuania),
• Alex Milne( UK)
Women:
• Gerda Steyn
• Gerda Steyn
• Gerda Steyn
Medals
Gold
Wally Hayward( Men) Isavel-Roche Kelly( Women)
Silver( Men) Silver( Women)
Route map
At 85.777km, this will be the shortest up-run in recent history, meaning course records will almost certainly come into play. Even the entries sold out in record time, with the 22,000 cap reached after just 10 hours.
The start time for elite runners is 5am on 14 June.
Best up run times previously recorded
• 5:24:49 by Leonid Shvetsov in 2008
• 5:49:46 by Gerda Steyn in 2024
Should the winners( men and women) of the 2026 Comrades Marathon break the best time previously recorded for the up run, they will receive an additional cash payment of R605 000.
First 10 Men and Women
Position 11 to 05h59:59 Position 11 to 06h59:59
6h00:00 to 7h: 29:59 07h00:00 to 07h29:59
Bill Rowan 7h30:00 to 8h59:59 Robert Mtshali 9h: 00:00 to 09h59:59 Bronze 10h00:00 to 10h59:59 Vic Clapham 11h00:00 to 11h59:59
Prize money
Check out the route map here:
www. comrades. com
https:// www. comrades. com / race-info / 2026-route-map
Awards
Medals will be awarded to all official finishers who complete the full distance within the 12-hour cut-off.
Position Men and Women Position Men and Women Position 1 R 925 000,00 Position 6 R 76 000,00 Position 2 R 464 000,00 Position 7 R 66 000,00 Position 3 R 334 000,00 Position 8 R 58 000,00 Position 4 R 168 000,00 Position 9 R 49 000,00 Position 5 R 131 000,00 Position 10 R 39 000,00
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