Comrades from far and wide

With less than a week to go before the 88^th Comrades Marathon, the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) has issued its Substitution and 2013 Entry statistics for the June 2^nd event.

This year’s ‘up-run’ from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, has attracted a total of 19,722 entrants, with male entrants totalling 15,383 and female participants coming in at 4,339.

The month-long Substitution Process has yielded 729 successful Substitution applications.

Women’s participation in the great race has been maintained at 22%. The CMA’s goal is to grow the female entry tally to 30% in the next five years.

4295 Novices have entered the race while a record number of International participants will be taking on the 89km road-running challenge. 1422 foreign runners from nearly 70 countries have signalled their intention to take on the world’s oldest and biggest ultra-marathon, as opposed to 1374 in last year’s race.

The average age of Comrades male participants in this year’s race is 41 and 40 for female runners.

CMA Race Director, Johan Van Staden says, ‘We expect between 15,000 and 16,000 runners at the Comrades Start at 05h30 outside the Durban City Hall on Sunday, 2 June. As usual, we are prepared to host another fantastic Comrades Race Day.’