Route change marries iconic brands for 2018 Comrades

JOHANNESBURG: The iconic Comrades Marathon is set for an equally epic finish in 2018 after the Moses Mabhida Stadium was announced as the new final destination for the biennial “down run”.

A slight change in the route, which still needs to be measured, will see thousands of road runners enter the stadium through the aptly named vomitory.

This was among the changes the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) announced at the annual media launch event of the 93rd edition of The Ultimate Human Race next year.

Comrades Marathon race director Rowyn James said the route would effectively be the same as in 2016, with the exception of the final eight kilometres.

“Comrades is an iconic brand and Moses Mabhida is an iconic brand in its own right in Durban so it just makes sense to marry the two brands together,” James said.

“Secondly, there are various aspects we as event organisers need to adhere to, Moses Mabhida as a world-class stadium allows for that whereas some of the areas at Kingsmead don’t allow for that.”

James said one option was to stay on the existing route and pass Kingsmead en route to Moses Mabhida Stadium, adding another two kilometres to the distance.

The race, scheduled for Sunday, June 10 will start at the Pietermaritz- burg City Hall at 5.30am and end 12 hours later at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Among the changes for next year’s race is the formal introduction of a professional category seeding batch for men with a marathon time less than two hours, 30 minutes, and a sub-three hour time for women.

James said it was a matter of giving professional athletes an equal advantage, with the new category not only benefiting runners from pro teams.

“Any athlete that might run for, let’s say, one of the recreational clubs, if they run a sub-2:30 for the men or sub-three hour for the women then they have the option of their own warm-up area at the start of the race and they would be able to be at the front,” James said.

“It allows them (athletes) to get away quicker, calmer and clearer from the start without them having to worry about the surging mass from behind.”

Comrades Marathon 2017 winner Bongmusa Mthembu said he would start his preparations for next year’s race, and include a final race at the 2018 Two Oceans.

“I’ve rested for two weeks where I didn’t do anything, then after that I did recovery training even now I don’t (do) more than 150 kilometres per week,” Mthembu said.

“I will only do Two Oceans just to see how my preparation is going for Comrades, but other than that I may go to other races if I am lucky enough to get invitations.”