ENTRY OPEN FOR 2018 COMRADES

2017 Comrades Marathon winner Bongmusa Mthembu stands next to the 2018 campaign poster at the launch of the 2018 Comrades Marathon at Montecasino in Fourways yesterday. Entries open tomorrow for the 89km ultra-marathon, which is the largest in the world, and will take place on June 10 next year. The race is from Pietermaritzburg to Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium. The 2018 edition is expected to attract 20 000 road runners from all over the world.

Organisers are confident the mass field will appreciate the adjustments that have been made for next year’s Comrades Marathon.

While it was confirmed yesterday they had largely stuck to tradition, a number of changes were revealed for the 2018 “down” run between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, which included a new finish venue and a tweak to the course.

There were multiple reasons, according to race director Rowyn James, for the decision to end the race at Moses Mabhida Stadium (right) for the first time after a shift from Kingsmead cricket ground, including better facilities at the newer venue, and improved safety and security measures.

“Kingsmead was a bit small for us,” James said at the race launch.

“If we had to evacuate the stadium, for whatever reason, we’d have major problems because we’ll have so many athletes on the infield who then have to climb over foot bridges to get out, whereas at Moses Mabhida you can evacuate very quickly because everyone is on the same level.”

With the new finish venue extending the route by 2.5km, organisers were set to propose a course alteration to Ethekwini traffic authorities for approval.

The new route was expected to eliminate the section on the N3 highway over the last 8km.

“One thing we want to do is get off the N3 national highway altogether because it means the main feeder road for Durban can stay open all day,” James said.

“Secondly, by turning off with 8km to go, we can get a more direct route into Moses Mabhida and keep the race distance roughly the same as it was two years ago (89.2km) on the last “down” run.”