7 Facts about the Comrades Marathon

SOME interesting facts and figures for the 90th Comrades Marathon.

1. Most common languages (Top six)
English – 11 438
Afrikaans – 4 477
isiZulu – 2 505
Northern Sotho – 661
Sotho – 658
Tswana – 634
isXhosa – 604

2. Most common surnames (Top ten)
Smith – 108
Dlamini – 102
Botha – 97
Ndlovu – 90
Pretorius – 80
Naidoo – 76
Venter – 76
Van der Merwe – 73
Mkhize – 68
Khumalo – 67

3. Most common occupation (Top ten)

Manager – 2 109
Self-employed – 1 272
Accountant/auditor – 1 173
Teacher/educator – 1 072
Engineer (electrical, civil, mechanical) – 1 013
Information tecnology – 943
Finance/banking – 872
Clerk – 467
Sales person – 432
Advocate/attorney – 419

4. Oldest runners
Male – Robert Bezuidenhout (82)
Femeale – Patsy Clemmans (70)

5. Records (Up-run – Durban to Pietermaritzburg)
Male Leonid Shvetsov (Russia) – 5:24:49 (2008)
Female Elena Nurgalieva (Russia) – 6:09:23 (2006)

6. Medals
Gold – first 10 men and women
Wally Haywood – Postion 11 to sub-6 hours
Silver – 6 Hours to sub-7 hours 30 minutes
Bill Rowan – 7 Hours 30 minutes to sub-9 hours
Bronze – 9 Hours to sub-11 hours
Vic Clapham – 11 Hours to sub 12 hours

7. Cut-offs
Cowies Hill (17km) – 8:10am
Winston Park (30km) – 10am
Drummond (43.7km) – 11.40am
Cato Ridge (57.7km) – 1.30pm
Umlaas Road (67.7km) – 3pm