Everyone enjoys watching Comrades

The Comrades Marathon is arguably the greatest ultra marathon in the world. Athletes come from all walks of life across the universe to combine muscle and mental strength to conquer 89 kilometres between the cities of Pietermaritzburg and Durban. The Comrades Marathon attracts thousands of runners and tens of thousands of television viewers every year, due to not only its history and challenges, but its usual style of fun, fanfare and camaraderie.

History of the Race

The Comrades marathon owes its beginnings to the vision of one man, World War I veteran
Vic Clapham.  Vic Clapham was born in London on 16 November 1886 and emigrated as a youth to the Cape Colony in South Africa, with his parents. At the outbreak of the South African War (Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902) he enrolled as an ambulance man into the Cradock Town Guard at the age of 13. He later moved to Natal and worked as an engine driver with the South African Railways.  With the outbreak of the Great War 1914-1918, Vic Clapham signed up with the 8th South African Infantry, and fought and marched 1700 miles of the eastern savannahs of Africa in pursuit of Glen Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck’s askari battalions. The pain, agonies, death and hardships of his comrades which he witnessed during those awful days left a lasting impression on the battle-hardened soldier, especially the camaraderie engendered among the men in overcoming these privations. Thus when peace was declared in 1918, Clapham felt that all those who had fallen in this catastrophic war should be remembered and honoured in a unique way, where an individual’s physical frailties could be put to the test and overcome.

Remembering the searing heat and thirst of the parched veld through which he had campaigned, he settled on the idea of a marathon and he approached the athletic authorities of the day to sound their views. His enquiry led him to the doors of the League of Comrades of the Great War a corpus of ex-soldiers who had formed an association to foster the interests of their living companions who had survived the War.

Clapham asked for permission to stage a 56 mile race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban under the name of the Comrades Marathon and for it to become a living memorial to the spirit of the soldiers of the Great War. That was the birth of an event that has now become one of the world’s most attended races.

The first Comrades Marathon took place on 24th May 1921, Empire Day, starting outside the City Hall in Pietermaritzburg with just 34 runners. Since then the Comrades has been running each year except in the years 1941- 1945 when the event was suspended due to WWII.

Comrades Tales

	Comrades is all about camaraderie

There are many stories that capture the meaning of true camaraderie within the Comrades Marathon. But few touch the hearts as the Hennie Loots and Henk Meyer story does.

What makes it so special is that Meyer is so severely mentally retarded that he doesn't know his age, cannot read or spell and has no idea of the distance that he runs every year. He only has 40% use of his left arm and despite his age, has the mental capacity of a 4-year-old. Loots' job during the Comrades is to ensure that he finishes, hydrates correctly and does not get lost.

"Henk is my sister's son and he got malaria when he was four which affected half of his brain", Loots explains. "But we've noticed that with the running, he is starting to improve." Loots, who often travels through from Roodeport to pick up Meyer in Hartebeespoort, does train with Meyer and also assists him in other races. "I've been doing it for 10 years now and it's worth the effort," Loots says. "It's rewarding to see the positive effect it has on him."

Comrades 2003 was a tough one for Meyer, who finished his seventh Comrades and Loots his eleventh. "With 10km to go he started to cry and said that he couldn't continue," Loots said, "but there's an inner strength in him that's inexplicable and he kept going."

Links:

For complete information about the 89km Comrades Marathon, visit www.comrades.com

Photographs courtesy and copyright of Comrades Marathon Association