The 2025 Comrades Marathon is underway. The Association’s General Manager, Alain Dalais, says there are over 22 000 entries.
Dalais says they have the biggest field of runners ever on a down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.
The number of runners in the first starting group has been capped at 14 000.
Dalais says this year’s race was planned with runners in mind to give them a better experience. This includes the first street finish since the early days of the race in 1921.
Runners will now finish in Masabalala Yengwa Avenue opposite Durban’s People’s Park, where spectators will be able to line the sidewalk to cheer runners on.
“Because it’s a street finish on the actual tar road surface, we’re going to have an astro-turf mat that will be before the finish line and after the finish line. Because we know with the Comrades marathon, especially in the last 2 to 3 hours, we have lots of runners who collapse, crawl, fall, etcetera. So we’ve introduced that and that will be laid down on the finish area so that any runners that do happen to fall or crawl will be able to do that on a soft surface and not on the actual road surface.”
And they’re off! 🚀
The Comrades Marathon 2025 Down Run has officially begun from Pietermaritzburg! Thousands of dreams, months of training, and pure grit on display. Let the Ultimate Human Race unfold! #ComradesMarathon #RoadToComrades #TheUltimateHumanRace #Comrades2025… pic.twitter.com/BAC1TEIqvt
— ComradesRace (@ComradesRace) June 8, 2025
The Comrades Marathon is the oldest and biggest ultramarathon worldwide. The previous down-run in 2018 attracted only 19 000 and 47 runners.
Jackie Motsepe, the COO of the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism and Film Authority, says the economic spinoffs will greatly benefit businesses in the tourism and hospitality industries.
“First of all, the hotels are fully booked, whether in Durban or Pietermaritzburg. We are expecting 24 000 runners at the start line. In terms of the economic impact, we are expecting over 600 000 for this race to have an impact on the economy. 1800 jobs are going to be created. From the continent, we are expecting at least 1 283 runners and over 3000 international runners.”
Security
Police have beefed up their presence for the Comrades Marathon. Thousands of runners and supporters will return home in the dark since the race will officially finish at 6 o’clock in the evening.
While police officers will be patrolling on horseback, on motorbikes and from the sky, 444 members of the SAPS Marathon Association will be tackling the gruelling 98 km route.
At a function in Durban, national police commissioner Fannie Masemola encouraged police officers to take up road running for the benefits it will have in their work.
