The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) is pulling out all the stops to ensure that ‘Race the Comrades Legends’ is The Ultimate Virtual Event and with the significant difference of creating a sense of camaraderie for athletes within their social space, adding value to running clubs and the running scene; and helping raise funds for the charitable sector whilst also contributing to needy communities.
With entries having opened a week ago, amid the worldwide Covid-19 lockdown, the entry tally is steadily rising with runners from around the world having entered the ‘Race The Comrades Legends’ on Sunday, 14 June 2020.
Over 6000 entries have been taken up, with what promises to be the world’s greatest virtual event, hosted by the organisers of the world’s greatest ultramarathon.
The entry breakdown is as follows:
Distance
Number
10 km Comrades Sprint (RSA)
852
10 km Comrades Sprint (International)
106
21.1 km Half Marathon (RSA)
2263
21.1 km Half Marathon (International)
346
45 km Half Comrades (RSA)
1157
45 km Half Comrades (International)
190
5 km Couch-2-Comrades (RSA)
259
5 km Couch-2-Comrades (International)
52
90 km Race the Legends (RSA)
720
90 km Race the Legends (International)
85
The country breakdown is as follows:
Country
Number
South Africa
5261
Brazil
329
United Kingdom
100
USA
65
Australia
54
Germany
31
Canada
18
India
18
Zimbabwe
17
Russia
13
CMA Chairperson, Cheryl Winn says, “The ‘Race The Comrades Legends’ offers runners the added bonus of being part of an event, especially those who for months have done training runs in isolation and no longer feel the kinship of a close-knit running community. The CMA is calling on you to get your family members involved in the fun and the action, where such a space was usually reserved only for ultrarunners in the traditional 90km Comrades Marathon.”
All that runners need to do is go to the Comrades website; register for ‘Race The Comrades Legends’; select their distance of 5km, 10km, 21km, 45km or 90km. Runners will also have the option of purchasing a commemorative mrpsport ‘Race The Comrades Legends’ T-shirt as well as a choice of donating to an official Comrades Amabeadibeadi Charity, with about R60-thousand contributed to the charitable coffers by generous runners so far.
The cost is R150 for South African runners and $25 for foreign athletes. Entry is free of charge to all South African runners who have entered the 2020 Comrades Marathon. Once registration is complete, runners will receive all vital race information and rules.
NOTE: The CMA’s ‘Race The Comrades Legends’ is a running concept based on the stories of the greatest Comrades Legends in history. The official Comrades Marathon website www.comrades.com will include an online functionality where runners can virtually compete, run and compare with each other and the likes of Bruce Fordyce, Frith van der Merwe, Samuel Tshabalala and many other legends; where each participant creates their own personal story and on completion is able to earn a real medal. Further statistical comparisons will be done according to cities, regions and provinces; as well as comparisons of overall calculated handicaps in terms of age, weight and gender.
For more information on #RaceTheComradesLegends and to enter, please click through to https://www.comrades.com/index.php/events/webinar-sign/race-for-comrades-legends-information