History Comrades Marathon

1 history

1.1 1920s
1.2 1930s
1.3 1940s
1.4 1950s
1.5 1960s
1.6 1970s
1.7 1980s
1.8 1990s
1.9 2000s

history

bust of vic clapham, founder of comrades

the comrades run first time on 24 may 1921 (empire day), , exception of break during world war ii, has been run every year since. 2010 event 85th race. date, on 300,000 runners have completed race.

the race idea of world war veteran vic clapham, commemorate south african soldiers killed during war. clapham, had endured 2,700-kilometre route march through sweltering german east africa, wanted memorial unique test of physical endurance of entrants. constitution of race states 1 of primary aims celebrate mankind s spirit on adversity .

from 1962 1994 race run on republic day, 31 may. after public holiday scrapped in 1995 post-apartheid south african government, race date changed youth day on 16 june. in 2007, race organisers (controversially) bowed political pressure anc youth league, felt race diverted attention significance of youth day, , changed race date sunday 17 june 2007 , 15 june 2008. in 2009 , 2010 date changed (to 24 may , 30 may respectively) accommodate football s confederations cup (2009) , world cup (2010) in south africa.

1920s

forty-eight runners entered first race in 1921, thirty-four elected start. course @ time tarred final few kilometres durban. time limit of 12 hours set , bill rowan became inaugural winner, clocking 08:59 win 41 minutes ahead of harry phillips. of 34 starters, 16 completed race.

arthur newton entered , won race first time in 1922. went on win race 5 times , emerge dominant comrades runner of 1920s. when completed down run in 06:56 in 1923, there handful of spectators on hand witness finish because few thought possible race run quickly. first woman run race frances hayward in 1923, entry refused, unofficial entrant. completed event in 11:35 , although not awarded comrades medal, other runners , spectators presented silver tea service , rose bowl. in 1924 comrades had fewest starters ever, 24. 4 years later, in 1928, time limit race reduced hour 11 hours.

1930s

in 1930s, hardy ballington emerged dominant runner, recording 4 victories in 1933, 1934, 1936 , 1938. winner of 1930 race, wally hayward, became 1 of greatest legends of comrades marathon, winning further 4 times in fifties, , becoming oldest man complete race in 1989. in 1932 geraldine watson, unofficial entrant, became first woman complete both run , down run.

1940s

after ballington s domination of 1930s, comrades stopped during war years 1941 1945. in 1948 comrades tradition born when race official max trimborn, instead of firing customary starter s gun, gave loud imitation of cock s crow. tradition continues present day trimborn s recorded voice played on loudspeakers @ starting line.

1950s

in 1950s, full twenty years after won race first time, wally hayward recorded second victory , followed wins in 1951, 1953 , 1954. represented south africa @ 1952 olympic games in helsinki, finished tenth in marathon. hayward retired comrades after establishing new records both , down runs , equaling 5 wins of newton , ballington. in 1958, race won first time jackie mekler, went on win race 5 times, finishing second twice , third twice.

1960s

in 1960s, comrades grew considerably, 104 starters in 1960 703 starters in 1969. due bigger fields, cut-off points introduced @ drummond , cato ridge. mekler became first man break six-hour barrier in 1960, finishing in 5:56:32. 1961 winner george claassen, school principal , father of well-known wynand claassen, springbok rugby captain during 1981-83. claassen junior finished comrades ten times in later years.

in 1962, race attracted foreign entries first time road runners club of england sent on 4 of best long-distance runners in britain. english runner john smith won race, run, in under 6 hours, missing out on course record 33 seconds. watching stragglers come in hours later, smith commented former winner bill cochrane other people completing race getting applause had received. witnessing spirit of comrades, replied cochrane.

in 1965, english runner bernard gomersall broke mekler s down run record time of 5:51:09.

in 1967, manie kuhn , tommy malone involved in closest finish in history of race. malone appeared on way comfortable win , handed traditional message mayor of pietermaritzburg mayor of durban @ tollgate lead of 2 minutes on kuhn. entered stadium in lead 80 metres left go. kuhn appeared 15 metres behind , closed in quickly. malone put in burst line, 15 metres left fell ground cramps. attempted again, line within reach kuhn flew past grab victory. mayoral message forgotten both runners embraced.

1970s

the comrades had on 1,000 starters first time in 1971, on 3,000 in 1979. race broadcast on both radio , television. race opened athletes first time in 1975, allowing blacks , women take part officially. in 1975, golden jubilee of comrades, vincent rakabele finished 20th become first black runner officially win medal. elizabeth cavanaugh became first women s winner in shade on 10 hours.

1976 saw emergence of alan robb, won first of 4 comrades titles. robb repeated win in 1977, 1978 , 1980, including breaking tape in durban in 1978 in record 5:29:14, 20 minutes , 4 kilometres ahead of runner-up dave wright.

1980s

during 1980s comrades began field of 4,207 in 1980 , topped 5,000 first time in 1983.

in 1981, university of witwatersrand student bruce fordyce won first of eventual 9 comrades titles. outspoken critic of apartheid, fordyce , number of other athletes decided boycott 1981 event when organisers announced associate 20th anniversary of republic of south africa. fordyce competed wearing black armband signal protest. repeated victories in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 (a record 5:24:07 down run), 1987, 1988 (a record 5:27:42 run), , 1990.

in 1989, sam tshabalala became first black winner of comrades.

schoolteacher frith van der merwe won woman s race in 1988 in time of 6:32:56. in 1989, van der merwe ran 5:54:43, obliterating women s record , finishing fifteenth overall.

in same year wally hayward entered race @ age of 79 , finished in 9:44:15. repeated feat in 1989 comrades, completed race 2 minutes spare , @ age of 80 became oldest man complete comrades.

1990s

comrades marathon house, cma s headquarters in pietermaritzburg race statistics , memorabilia kept

during 1990s size of starting fields in region of 12,000 14,000 runners. in 1995 prize money introduced, attracting more foreign competitors. traditional race day of may 31, formerly republic day, changed june 16, anniversary of soweto uprising.

in 1992 charl mattheus, crossed finish line first, later disqualified after testing positive banned substance. claimed contained in medicine had taken sore throat, jetman msutu elevated winner, becoming second black winner of comrades. in sad twist mattheus, substance banned later removed iaaf s banned substance list since evidence pointed having no performance enhancing properties. mattheus suffered negativity in public eye later managed redeem clean image emphatic faultless win in 1997 down run beating strong local , international field.

2000s

the 75th anniversary of comrades marathon in 2000 largest ever staged, massive field of 23,961. hour allowed allow runners dome recovery time bronze medal finishers celebrate milestone. in 2010, on 85th anniversary, race gained place in guinness world records ultramarathon runners. 14,343 athletes, largest field since turn of millennium, finished in allowed 12 hours.

russian identical twin sisters olesya , elena nurgalieva won combined ten comrades titles 2003–2013, while three-time champion stephen muzhingi became first non-south african winner africa in 2009. stephen muzhingi became first athlete win 3 races in row (2009, 2010 , 2011) since bruce fordyce won 3 in row in eighties (1981, 1982 , 1983). russian runner leonid shvetsov set both down , course records in 2007 , 2008, respectively.

south african supremacy on men´s race restored when ludwick mamabolo won down run in 2012. win followed 3 successive south african triumphs in following years. among ladies nurgalieva twin´s hold on race broken in 2014 when ellie greenwood, gbr, won downrun after spectacular finish, taking lead 2 km before end. in 2015 caroline wostmann became first south african lady win comrades in 17 years. in 2017, american, camille herron, led start-to-finish become 3rd american , first in 20 years win comrades.