Comrades marathon dates shifted to month of May

Next year's Comrades marathon and the one in 2010 will again be run in the month of May. The Comrades Marathon Association announced that next year's race will be run on Sunday May 24 and race day in 2010 will be on May 30.

The Comrades has been held on June 16 in recent years, but was moved to June 17 last year because youth groups complained that it was distracting attention from Youth Day events on June 16. This year's race will be run on Sunday, June 15. It will be an up-run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg.

The 1951 edition of the Comrades was the last to be held on May 24 or Empire Day. Since then, race day had a number of dates -- including Republic Day and more recently Youth Day. But with major soccer events coming to town in the next two years, the Comrades Marathon Association had to make important decisions.

Dave Dixon from the Comrades Marathon Association says they had to make sure that the race was not overshadowed by the FIFA World Cup.

In 2009, South Africa hosts the Confederations Cup and a year later the World Cup kicks-off on June 11. Logistically it would have been impossible for the Comrades to be run on its usual date in mid-June. Furthermore, the Comrades Association says it will use the next two races as a barometer as the races will be run on a Sunday and not on a public holiday.