Cheer on Benoni Northern Comrades runners on Sunday

In February, the Comrades Marathon Association announced the cancellation of the 2021 Comrades Marathon down run.

This marked the second time the Comrades Marathon has been cancelled as a result of the pandemic, with 2020 being the first time in 75 years the world’s Ultimate Human Race was not run. It took a World War to stop it between 1941 and 1945.

This year would have been the Centenary of the Comrades Marathon, and widely known as being a “Comrades Club”, it would be remiss of Benoni Northern Athletics Club (BNAC) not to mark the occasion.

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In a typical year, BNAC would have about 200 athletes participating in the Comrades Marathon, making it one of the largest traditional running clubs in the event.

This year, BNAC has planned a club run on the streets of Benoni for its members on June 13, the day upon which many had hoped to be running the challenging 90km route from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.

The news of the cancellation was nothing short of disappointing for BNAC’s avid Comrades’ runners.

While the motivation has waned for most to keep training the long distances needed to prepare for the 90km Comrades challenge, some athletes have committed themselves to run a distance of 90km, a number who will be running 45km and several who will be running distances of 22.5km and 10km.

In total, there will be about 100 runners out on the road, completing one, two, three or four laps of the 22.5km route that BNAC has planned.

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The runners will be leaving Benoni Northern Sports Grounds in batches to control numbers.

“We would like to invite the residents of Benoni who live on or are in the vicinity of the streets that our athletes will be running to venture out and cheer them on.

“Our community is well known for its fantastic spirit and for enthusiastically cheering on the runners who participate in our annual Rowlin National Night Race in October.

“We would love to see this spirit shining through on June 13. Look out for the BNAC runners who will be braving the cold on Sunday to run their chosen distance in acknowledgement of the Comrades Marathon Centenary.

“Give them a shout-out, a wave or a hoot. You just might be the one to give them the motivation to keep going,” said John Eigelaar, chairperson of BNAC.

Roads you can spot the runners on this Sunday:

• Wilge

• Kei

• Dalrymple

• Kanna

• Honiball

• Hartley