Entries for Comrades Marathon virtual race open

The Comrades Marathon Association has announced that this year’s race will go virtual again. The 100-year-old event was cancelled last year too, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Entries for the Comrades Centenary Hope Challenge opened today. It allows runners from across the globe to enter across five different distances to be run on June 13.

In a statement, Comrades Marathon Chairperson, Cheryl Winn, says that the race is inviting athletes from South Africa and the world to share in the remembrance and revelry of the world’s oldest, largest and greatest ultramarathon.

Winn has pleaded with runners to accept and respect the CMA’s decision, which has been made in conjunction with KwaZulu-Natal Athletics and Athletics South Africa.

CMA says government restrictions and most importantly the health and welfare of the athletes, volunteers, and all other stakeholders were considered in making the decision.

First held in 1921, this year’s event would have been the 95th running of the Comrades Marathon and it would have been a down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.