The Comrades Marathon is an ultramarathon of approximately 89 kilometers (55 mi) which is run annually in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. It is the world's largest and oldest ultramarathon race.
The direction of the race alternates each year between the "up" run (87 km) starting from Durban and the "down" run (now 90,184 km) starting from Pietermaritzburg. The 2019 field was capped at 25,000 runners, and the entry process closed after one week. South African runners constitute the greater part of the field, but many entrants hail from the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, India, the United States, Brazil, Australia, Botswana, Russia and Swaziland.
In all but three runnings since 1988, over 10,000 runners have reached the finish within the allowed 11 or 12 hours. With increased participation since the 1980s, the average finish times for both sexes, and the average age of finishers have increased substantially.
Runners over the age of 20 qualify when they are able to complete an officially recognized marathon (42.2 km) in under five hours (4x50 for 2019 onwards). During the event an athlete must also reach five cut-off points at specified times to complete the race.
The spirit of the Comrades Marathon is said to be embodied by attributes of camaraderie, selflessness, dedication, perseverance, and 'ubuntu' ("humanity").
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