Sunday…Comrades day…The Ultimate human race…
We woke up around 4am and left at 4.30 to walk to the Comrades start line. There were heaps of people around all ready, many even running and doing warm-ups, crazy people! I guess 89km is just not enough for some people.

It was dark but even though we were walking through the streets of a major city one never felt unsafe, the spirit of Comrades coming through.

A square perimeter some 500m around the start line stopped non-runners from getting too close. At 4.45am the vast majority of runners were already lined up, not much hope of getting a good spot if you came later

We stood waiting some 20-30 mins just over 500m past the start line. The national anthem of South Africa played some 10 mins before the start, and then with 5 min to go, there was the unmistakable tradition of Chariots of fire. Even though I wasn’t running, it was awe inspiring. Then a minute later the gun went off and over 11500 runners were off, amidst a rapturous applause.

I’m not sure if the front runners were sprinting or not, but they were travelling mightily fast. For such a huge number of runners they didn’t take that long to go through, probably between 7-10 minutes. Although the biggest cheers were for the last people, the ones who were behind all the official vehicles that were late and desperately trying to join the official field!

We then went back to our Durban accommodation, watched a bit on tv, then showered and left to get breakfast. Then we travelled towards Pietermaritzburg, stopping at Cato ridge, a designated viewing spot.

Cato Ridge was some 60km into the race. And we were seeing mostly silver medallist (sub 7.30) hopefuls and Bill Rowan medallists (sub 9.00) running. It was a good experience but lost something by not having someone for us to watch or cheer.

We ended in Pietermaritzburg at the finishing arena. We had just missed the first and second woman, but saw number 3 and 4 come in. Leonid Shevtsov, won the mens race in a new course record of 5.24! At the finish line we met one family who had been there since 5.30am! I guess they don’t like to be late! (Their runner still hadn’t come in after 12.00pm)

We then checked in to the accommodation in Pietermaritzburg…it’s a little BnB type place on a secluded property some 5km out of the city…it’s beautiful, and very roomy. I guess some of us know how to pick em…

Late afternoon we went to see the Howick falls, about 20km away. We went there back in 1999, but they looked a lot more spectacular than I remember (which was better than Rheanna not being able to remember at all)

Photos
1. Comrades Marathon start line
2. Comrades Marathon start line
3. Sanjay at Comrades Marathon start line
4. Group of runners at Cato Ridge
5. Comrades finish line
6. Howick Falls
7. Rheanna and her Mom at Howick falls
8. Sanjay and Rheanna at Howick falls