Comrades Marathon: All set for ‘safe, runnable and warm’ event

The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) said at a press conference in Durban on Thursday that it has produced a package that is certain to ‘reverberate’ with the runners and that everything is on track for a ‘safe, runnable and warm’ race to be held between Pietermaritzburg and Durban tomorrow.

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Race director Rowyn James said: “We have worked with three engineering companies to ensure the entire route is safe and runnable. We also thank the relevant municipalities for fixing potholes and ensuring streetlights are working along the route.

“Some of the changes we have introduced for 2023 include returning to Kingsmead for the finish of the race and improving prize money by 90%. The total purse is R4,3m which means we have the richest race in the country and certainly one of the richest in Africa.”

He confirmed that 17 920 runners have met the qualifying criteria to tackle the punishing but popular challenge, from over 20 000 entries received.

Of those, 4 413 are novices and 1 980 are coming from outside South Africa for what is going to be the 96th edition of Comrades and 48th down run.

James said the temperature on Sunday is set to be 10° Celsius at the start of the race and improving to a ‘warm’ 26° Celsius later.

Starting point of the race

The race starts at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall at 05:30 and finishes at the Kingsmead cricket stadium in Durban, for an official race distance of 87.7 km.

There will be over 6 000 volunteers helping out on Sunday, including those in the medical facility, which is going to be the biggest temporary medical facility outside of a war zone, said the CMA with much pride.

On the security front, 1 000 marshals ‘plus 200 community marshals’ will assist the SAPS, Metro Police, the CMA’s security service provider and other law enforcement officials to keep order on race day.

“In terms of medical preparedness, Netcare 911 will provide 16 ambulances equipped with satellite tracking to enable us to accurately position the vehicles and ensure optimal response times to attend to runners in difficulty, seven rapid response vehicles with advanced life support paramedics and full emergency equipment, and one air rescue helicopter, among other things,” said James.

Along the route on Sunday, there will be 42 refreshment stations stocking 30 350 litres of Coke, two million sachets of Thirsti Water, more than five tons of oranges and two tons of bananas..

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As usual, the awe-inspiring race will benefit several charity organisations, including Childhood Cancer Foundation of South Africa (Choc), Community Chest in Durban and Pietermaritzburg, Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust, WildTrust, and Rise Against Hunger.

Sunday’s iconic athletics event will have a live broadcast on two SuperSport channels for the first time, starting at 05:00. One of these will focus exclusively on the women’s section as a boost for that gender.

There is also going to be an over-the-top (OTT) digital channel streaming directly from the finish line to capture the emotions of runners at the end of the tough race.