Success of first virtual Comrades Marathon leaves its mark
Sunday (June 14) was going to be just a sad day, but it turned out to be a lovely day
The hugely successful first edition of the Race the Comrades Legends virtual race has given the Comrades Marathon organisers food for thought about a possible future for the race. New to its kind, the race took place as a consolation for the cancellation of the traditional race amid the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the Race the Comrades Legends saw approximately 44 000 runners from 86 countries around the world participate, highlighting the big interest the race has brought, much to the impression of the race organisers.
Comrades Marathon Association boss Cheryl Winn said although it is too soon to make any commitments regarding the future of the virtual race, its inauguration has left a good impression.
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“I think we had about 43 500 entries and we had 27 000 for the real race. Its about a 58 per cent increase. This was our wildest dream. Sunday (June 14) was going to be just a sad day, but it turned out to be a lovely day,” said Winn, who ran 5km pushing her wheelchair-bound husband Mick Winn, a former CMA chairperson.
“To see all the runners running out there in celebration of Comrades and our beautiful rainbow nation, it’s so cool. It was really fantastic. The race was all put together in five weeks. Five and half weeks ago we hadn’t even thought about this and it has been successful beyond our imagination,” she said.
Winn added that seeing so many people signing up for the race showed a lot of people would love to take part in the real Comrades Marathon, but they can’t because of the entries cap.
“It just gave them a chance to be associated. It was our worst nightmare having to cancel the Comrades Marathon and just changing to something we’d never imagined,” said Winn.
“I can’t say for sure, although this was planned as a once-off thing, I’m pretty sure that we will have to do something similar in future because there’s a market for it. This has opened the door for us to look at other things because people want to be associated with the Comrades one way or another.”
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