Comrades Marathon organisers apologise to upset runners

Organisers of the Comrades Marathon have apologised to participants in last month’s race, insisting they are investigating ways to resolve various issues which were raised by runners after the 96th edition of South Africa’s most popular ultra-marathon.

Issues highlighted by participants included sound problems at the start in Pietermaritzburg, as well as route changes, cut-off times and the finish venue layout at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban.

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Most notably, the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) had been criticised for the cut-off times enforced in the closing stages of the race, which had allegedly resulted in hundreds of runners not being able to reach the finish.

“The CMA wishes to categorically and unreservedly apologise to those runners who were affected by the cut-off times at Pinetown and Sherwood,” the CMA said.

“To mitigate this going forward, the services of relevant professionals will be called upon to assist the technical team in determining a fair and just time for the cut-off at each point based on the official race distance.”

The CMA said it would reach out to runners who were potentially affected by the cut-off discrepancies.

Other concerns

Also reacting to a sound system failure at the start, organisers claimed a service provider had been responsible.

“The sound system failure had a knock-on effect of the “synced” soundtracks not being audible which in turn led to a time lapse in the firing of the official start gun in relation to when the cannon went off,” the CMA said.

“It is worth noting that the same service provider had also provided the finish venue sound system where no problems were experienced. Going forward, the service provider is introducing a secondary/ backup system that can be switched over, should the need arise.”

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In addition, the CMA said it would seek alternative routes for the next ‘down’ run due to safety concerns on this year’s 87km course.

The organisation also confirmed it would consult with “various professionals” to help redesign the finish venue layout to ensure an effective ‘easy flow’ of runners and supporters.

“Regarding some of the other concerns raised by athletes, the CMA has noted these and is working with the relevant sub-committees through the debriefs in order to address those, namely start safety concerns, T-shirt sizes, medals, littering etc,” said CMA chairperson Mqondisi Ngcobo.

“The main aim of the CMA is to stage a safe and enjoyable ultra-marathon and live up to its reputation as ‘The Ultimate Human Race’. The concerns raised by our athletes are important in this regard.”