Even though more than 50 000 runners will have their hearts broken on Wednesday, by missing out on entry into next year’s 100th running of the Comrades Marathon, the organisers are still set to be smiling all the way to the bank.
The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) would have increassed its bank balance by close to a cool half a million rands, if not more, from the application for the general ballot entries into the 2027 race.
The general ballot application carries a non-refundable R10 fee and given the rush that was experienced on the CMA website on the first day of the application, indications are there would have been no less than a 60 000 applications by closing day.
With just 14 000 spots available for the ballot entries, the CMA opened the applications last week (September 9) and will close them on Tuesday afternoon (September 22). Such was the rush on the opening day that no less than 30 000 applicants were made on the website of the Ultimate Human Race.
The CMA’s notice that the ballot was not on a first-come, first-serve basis notwithstanding, runners queued all day to apply. When yours truly got on the site just after 11am, an hour after opening, there were a little over 20 000 waiting in the queue and the numbers of those joining afterwards was increasing.
No doubt the numbers dwindled as the days went by, but there is every evidence to suggest that more runners made applications daily and some will still be applying today and in the next two days until the applications closes at 4pm on Tuesday.
Said CMA general manager Alain Dalais: “The CMA has not publicised the caps allocated to each entry window or category. These allocations were determined following a comprehensive review of the Comrades Marathon entry and participation trends from 2022 to 2026.”
The high demand for the entries is a clear indication of the race’s popularity and not even the political squabbles between the CMA and KwaZulu-Natal Athletics as well as Athletics South Africa could dissuade runners from wanting to be a part of what the CMA have termed “The Greatest Story Ever Run”.
Next year’s race will be a down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.
- Over 50,000 runners applied for general ballot entries for the 2027 Comrades Marathon, competing for 14,000 available spots.
- The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) charged a non-refundable R10 fee per ballot application, generating close to R600,000 in revenue.
- The application period opened on September 9 and will close on September 22 at 4pm, with 30,000 applications made on the first day alone.
- CMA General Manager Alain Dalais stated that entry caps were set based on a review of participation trends from 2022 to 2026 and were not publicly disclosed.
- The 2027 Comrades Marathon will be a down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban despite ongoing disputes involving CMA, KwaZulu-Natal Athletics, and Athletics South Africa.
