With an unprecedented demand for entries into next year’s Comrades Marathon, the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) had to close the entry process barely one week after the #Comrades2019 entry opening.

“We reached the cap of 25,000 entries within a few days and therefore had to shut down the entry process. The unprecedented demand for Comrades Marathon entries has been amazing,” said CMA Race Director, Rowyn James.

James added that the Comrades Marathon brand is obviously in an incredibly good space.

“It is credit to our team who efficiently and effectively go about putting Runners First on a daily basis; as well as all of our sponsors, stakeholders and athletes who are so vested in The Ultimate Human Race,” James added.

Athletes from 80 countries have entered The Ultimate Human Race with the lion’s share of international entries coming from the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, India, USA, Brazil and Australia.

“We regret that there may be some runners who were hoping to secure an entry to next year’s Comrades Marathon but somehow missed out. The CMA thanks all South Africans for their tremendous support and contribution to The Ultimate Human Race,” said CMA Chairperson Cheryl Winn.

She added that they recommend that all runners keep training and stick to their fitness goals. The possibility of a Comrades Substitution between 1 March and 15 April 2019 is still there so they urge runners to not lose all hope.

The 2019 Comrades Marathon is the 94^th edition of the world’s most famous ultra-marathon and the 48^th Comrades Up Run, starting at the Durban City Hall and finishing 12 hours later at the Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg.

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