Comrades Marathon in South Africa

One of the oldest, most respected and also most popular ultramarathons in the world is simply called Comrades. It was first held in 1921 and was founded by World War I veteran Vic Clapham who wished to create a race whereby those that had fallen in the great war would be remembered and honoured. Thus Comrades Marathon was born and, with the exception of during World War II, it has been held annually in South Africa. The race is run between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg, the direction alternating every year with the so called up- and down runs (the course is 56 miles (86,6 km) long and runs for +/- 1 630 vertical metres).

The race was held today and this year the course was run uphill from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. The renowned Swedish ultra runner Jonas Buud has – among many other races – won Swiss Alpine Marathon (77,5 km and +2 650 m) a record SIX times and has dedicated this year’s season to train specifically for Comrades. This year he ran the race for the third time and managed to win silver (5 h 41 min) in an impressive display of endurance and strength. Congratulations Jonas, you are awesome!!!

For your information: both Swiss Alpine and Comrades have been added to Jakob & Jakob’s to-do list…

Jonas Buud winning his 5th Swiss Alpine in 2011.

Doesn’t this race look gloriously beautiful?

Looks like a lot of uphill running…