The Comrades Marathon Association has confirmed its final elite team nominations for the 2026 Up Run, drawing the curtain on a qualifying window that closed on 4 May and signalling the official start of the eight-week run-up to the world's oldest and largest ultramarathon. The 2026 edition, scheduled for Sunday 14 June, will run the 85.777-kilometre course up from Durban's beachfront on the Indian Ocean to Pietermaritzburg, the version of the route that has historically favoured pure climbers and produced some of the slowest finishing times in the modern era.
On the men's side, two-time Down Run champion Tete Dijana again headlines the South African squad and will arrive in KwaZulu-Natal as the consensus favourite. Dijana's preparation has been built around a 12-week block at altitude in Dullstroom, and his coach Lindsey Parry told local media this week that the runner is in arguably the best aerobic shape of his career. Edward Mothibi and Onalenna Khonkhobe round out the projected top three South African entries, and the international field is led by Russia's Aleksandr Sorokin, who is making his Comrades debut after announcing his entry in February.
The women's startlist has the makings of a generational showdown. Defending Up Run champion Gerda Steyn has signalled all spring that her preparation is on track for a fourth Up Run title and a renewed assault on the long-standing course record of 5:54:43 set by Frith van der Merwe in 1989. Steyn will face Adele Broodryk and Carla Molinaro, both of whom have been training together at altitude in Lesotho, and the international challenge from Russia's Alexandra Morozova, who paced a 6:21 at last year's Down Run and steps up to the more demanding direction this year.
The 2026 Up Run carries the largest prize pot in the race's history, after the Comrades Marathon Association announced earlier this season that it had partnered with three new sponsors to raise the elite purse to a total of 12 million South African rand. Course-record bonuses, last paid in 1989 to van der Merwe, sit at 1.5 million rand for both the men's and women's records, and the association has confirmed an additional 250,000 rand bonus for any runner who breaks the 5:30 barrier in the men's race or 5:50 in the women's.
An entry field of around 22,000 runners has been confirmed, the largest in event history and the first time Comrades has required pre-registration for a back-up corral system to manage congestion at the Durban City Hall start. The annual elite training camp at Cathedral Peak in the Drakensberg runs from 24 to 30 May and will host the bulk of the South African squad. Race-week broadcast coverage is set to expand for 2026 with new partners across Africa and into the United Kingdom, where Comrades will receive its first dedicated terrestrial half-hour highlights show on the Sunday evening of the race.