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Lead Stories: Friday, January 9, 2009

Russians & South Africans poised to dominate Comrades Marathon

Posted June 13th, 2007 at 10:13 AM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Marathons

South African men have won the last three “down” Comrades Marathons, but it seems likely that a Russian will be first across the line this Sunday, June 17, when the 82nd running of the world’s largest ultramarathon takes place between Pietermaritzburg and Durban. The distance of the race this year is 89.3 km.

The ultramarathon will be run on a Sunday for the first time in history. This unpopular decision, widely seen in the running community as the result of the Comrades Marathon Association bowing under political pressure from governing body Athletics South Africa, has led to a decrease of about 15 percent in entries. The last few years the race was held on Youth Day (June 16), a highly politicized public holiday in post-apartheid South Africa.

Foreign women have dominated the Comrades in recent years, with the last local victory coming in 1998 when Rae Bisschoff won. Most pundits expect that this year will be no different.

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