Tag: Comrades

Few days back, I launched a small initiative (actually, the idea is from my running friend, Aditya) to connect with Indian runners (or runners from India) who might be interested to run the Comrades Marathon on May 30th, 2010. The Comrades Marathon is the world’s oldest and largest ultramarathon run over a distance of approximately 89 km between the capital of the Kwazulu-Natal Province of South Africa, Pietermaritzburg, and the coastal city of Durban. The direction of the race alternates each year between the up run starting from Durban and the down run starting from Pietermaritzburg, 2010 being the “down run“.

Event website: http://www.comrades.com/

About 12-14,000 runners run the 89 KM run most of the years. 2000 was a special year and saw 24,000 participants running the 89K. That’s right, not the fun runs, not half marathon, not the 42K marathon, all 24,000 running the 89K. Year 2010 is the 85 anniversary of the run, and falls on May 30th, just before the Football World Cup kicks off in South Africa. 20,000 runners are expected to take part with increased quota.  The race has a 12 hour cutoff (with intermediate cutoffs too) in which you either finish the race, or you are royally escorted out, in a pickup bus!

As part of my learning about Comrades, I went through all the results pages from 1921 to 2009, that’s right, each and every results page, searching for runners (or rather finishers) from India. Surprisingly, I found none, not even one Comrades finisher from India in all these 84 years! That was really, really shocking! So, 2010 does present Indian runners with a wonderful opportunity to create history by being the first ever Indian finisher at Comrades!

So, I thought why not use this opportunity and combine the most popular social networking platform ‘Facebook‘ to create awareness, and help people get in touch. So, this Facebook group – titled – “Indian Runners for Comrades Marathon 2010” was launched. The intent is to support each other towards the final goal, in terms of information, training progress, logistics, etc. We are currently small team of 26 interested people, and the list is growing. If you are interested, please join the Facebook group (If you are not on Facebook, you will have to create an account first). The group website location is:

Facebook: Indian Runners for Comrades 2010

Below is the official announcement of the 2010 Comrades marathon (an 89 KM ultra, and the world’s biggest ultramarathon, between Peitermaritzburg and Durban in South Africa) from the latest Comrades newsletter. I am already looking forward to pressing the buttons for registration on my PC on Nov 1st, actually the day on which I will be running my 5th consecutive Airtel Delhi Half Marathon as well. Looking forward to the day already.

2010 ANNOUNCEMENT

The overwhelming response for entries for the 2009 Comrades Marathon is hopefully a sign of the excellent interest in the Comrades Marathon. The 17% increase in race entries this year must be attributed to the extensive marketing campaign undertaken by the CMA, both locally and abroad.

The 2010 Comrades Marathon also coincides with the 85th anniversary of The Ultimate Human Race. 2010 will see the race run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, a down run. The CMA will enter into an extensive marketing campaign, through various mediums, as well as road shows across South Africa. The CMA has also put in place a comprehensive international marketing campaign, the first step of which has been achieved with the appointment of International Ambassadors across Europe, South and North America, and Australia.

Entry numbers for the 2010 and 85th anniversary of the Comrades Marathon will be capped at 20000 runners, and no extensions will be entered into. Thus making the 2010 run a special event as the CMA has never had a cut off number in the past. We are confident that this number will be achieved very quickly as in 2000 we received 24000 entries. Therefore we urge all runners and potential runners that wish to run in 2010 to take careful note of the entry process and the closing dates. We therefore request that you enter early to avoid disappointment. Entries will be done in 2 phases.

Phase 1

1 September 2009 entries will open to all previous Comrades Runners. Phase 1 will be capped at 15000 entrants and will close on 31 October 2009, or whichever comes first (eg. if we receive 15000 entries by the 10 October 2009 then no further entries will be accepted).

Phase 2

1 November 2009 entries will open to all Novices and will be capped at 5000. Entries will close on 30 November 2009, or whichever comes first (eg. if we received 5000 novice entries by 15 November 2009 then no further entries will be accepted).

Total number of entries will be capped at 20000.

Qualifying period for 2010 will be from 24 May 2009 to 26 April 2010. Runners who finished the 2009 Comrades Marathon can use their finishing time as a 2010 qualifier.

As in 2009, runners will be able to enter before they qualify. This means while all entries will have to meet the entry criteria above, runners will still be allowed to qualify in official qualifying races up until the month of April, with the 26th April as the final closing date. Upon qualification, runners simply need to give the time and details of the qualifying race through to the CMA office. Upon receiving the qualifying information the runner’s entry will be confirmed.
Failure to meet or submit your qualify details will result in your entry being rejected and your details will be removed from our database, which means that you will not receive a postcard, goodie bag or runners t-shirt. Under no circumstances will refunds be made.

The most interesting stat from Comrades marathon, 2009 (picked up from Comrades forums). This displays the medals people received versus the actual seeding/group with which they started the race. The box in green below looks most attractive to me for the best chance to do a bronze. That is the D seeding (sub 4 hour marathon qualifier), and the next best one is the F (sub 4:20 marathon qualifier).

For reference, below are the medal cutoff times for the event:

Below are the marathon qualifying times required for the group seeding.