The annual ultra-marathon does not need to be sanctioned by governing bodies.
Runners participating in the annual Comrades Marathon. Picture: Darren Stewart/Gallo Images
Despite role players having met to try and talk it out, the battle between the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) and KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA) continues to rage, and federations and the race organisers are still not on the same page.
After meeting with representatives of the CMA, Athletics South Africa (ASA) issued a statement last week confirming it stood firmly on the side of its provincial member KZNA.
In response, while the CMA agreed with ASA that constructive discussions had taken place, it also made it clear that “no firm decisions were made”.
KZNA and the CMA have been locked in an ongoing legal war in recent years, with the provincial body attempting to retain some control of the race, while the CMA has tried to distance itself from the federation.
Though ASA said recently that KZNA needed to determine the date of the 2027 Comrades (which it had not yet done), race organisers claimed the event would be held on 13 June, as they had previously announced.
Of course, KZNA and ASA both want to retain control of the sport as officially recognised national and provincial federations.
Comrades does not need to be affiliated
The problem, however, is that Comrades does not have to be sanctioned, and if KZNA and ASA don’t start working with the race organisers and finding some middle ground, they might realise just how much power Comrades holds as the country’s oldest and most prestigious road running race.
In its statement, ASA said: “All athletics events must be sanctioned through ASA and its recognised provincial structures.”
This is not true. Races only need to be affiliated if they want to be officially recognised within provincial, national and international structures.
Anybody can organise a fun run. People do it all the time without these events being sanctioned. Weekly parkruns held around the country are a good example of this.
The question is: What does Comrades get out of being sanctioned by ASA and KZNA, or even the International Association of Ultrarunners? The answer: Almost nothing.
The race is entirely independently organised, it raises its own funding and this year it even organised its own broadcast.
If Comrades is not sanctioned, ASA and its provincial members could ban participants from running sanctioned events, but if the national federation chose to suspend more than 20,000 runners, the backlash would be extreme and the entire funding model of the sport could collapse.
Compromise is the best way forward
Mark Leathers, the chairperson of the Comrades board, confirmed last week that CMA members would meet at a special general meeting next month to “decide on the way forward in relation to the athletics federation affiliation matters.”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. ASA and KZNA need to work with Comrades to find a compromise in terms of the power balance.
The Comrades Marathon is a powerful beast with a whole lot of support, and if this battle continues, I don’t think governing bodies are going to win this fight.
