Comrades Marathon

The Comrades Marathon is an ultramarathon of approximately 88 kilometres (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 (87.6 km) starting from Durban (elevation: 101 metres (331 ft)) and the "down" run (89.98 km) starting from Pietermaritzburg (elevation: 921 metres (3,022 ft)).

In all but three editions since 1988, over 10,000 runners have reached the finish within the allowed 11 or 12 hours. Since the 1980s, increased participation has coincided with substantial rises in both average finish times and the average age of finishers.