Comrades moves for Confederations Cup
20 November 2008
For the first time since 1996, South Africa's world-famous ultra-marathon, the Comrades, will revert to a date in May. The 2009 event will take place on Sunday 24 May to accommodate the Fifa Confederations Cup, which takes place from the second week of June onwards.
Due to the change of date, the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) has instituted a number of changes for the 2009 race.
'Down' run
The 2009 Comrades Marathon will be a "down run" from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, starting at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall and finishing at Sahara Kingsmead Cricket Stadium.
Because the race will be held three weeks earlier than usual, the closing date for entries has been set at 31 March, and no entries received after that date will be accepted.
However, taking into consideration that several key and traditional Comrades qualifying races will take place after 31 March 31, the CMA has decided to allow participants who have not qualified by 31 March to run races up to 28 April 28, and then to inform the CMA office of their qualify time, at which stage their entry will be confirmed.
The CMA insists, however, that runners must understand that the closing date for entries remains 31 March, and the final qualification date will be April 28.
The arrangement will allow races such as the Ironman SA, Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, Forever Resorts Loskop Marathon and Chatsworth Marathon to remain as qualifying events, although they take place after entries have closed.
Ironman events
In addition, the CMA has decided that all official finishers in the popular local and international Ironman endurance events will automatically qualify to run the Comrades Marathon, providing that the qualifier falls within the CMA's official qualifying window of 15 June 2008 to 28 April 2009. The standard Ironman event comprises of a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km marathon.
Given that next year's Ironman event in South Africa takes place on 5 April, athletes will, according to the new rules, have to submit their entries before participating in the event. The qualifying option does, however, exclude the 70.3 Half Ironman.
All local entrants in the 2009 Comrades Marathon will have to be licenced members of an athletics club affiliated to Athletics South Africa.
Online entries
Online entries will open on 1 December, while printed entry forms will be available in January. They can be mailed to the CMA or dropped off at any Mr Price or Mr Price Sport store in the country.
The CMA will once again be offering runners across the country the opportunity to attend training and motivational workshops, starting in January.
During the week leading up to the 2009 Comrades Marathon, the Bonitas Comrades Expo will double up as race registration and the country's biggest running expo.
National Youth Run
On the day preceding the race, Saturday, 23 May, the National Youth Run will be staged on Durban's beachfront. In 2008, its inaugural year, the event attracted 3 500 participants, and organisers expect figure to rise significantly in 2009.
On race day, the CMA has arranged for extra spectator spots for the public on route, while the Gold Fields Prize-Giving Breakfast will again take place the morning after the race.
Source: Comrades Marathon Assocation
