The final preparations are complete and the tapering is done: on Sunday morning, 14 June, a record entry of 21,633 runners will set off from Durban on the 85.77km journey to Pietermaritzburg for the 99th Comrades Marathon. This year's edition is an Up Run, the more punishing of the event's two alternating directions, sending the field climbing roughly 700 metres net across the rolling hills of KwaZulu-Natal. As the city braces for its great annual ritual, the carbo-loading is finished, the seeding pens are confirmed and the only question left is how the day itself will unfold.
In the women's race, all eyes are on Gerda Steyn, who arrives chasing a fourth consecutive Comrades victory and a fifth overall. Steyn has been imperious on this course, standing undefeated every time she has lined up since her breakthrough win in 2019, and a further triumph would cement her status among the greatest ultra-distance road runners the event has produced. Yet she will not have it all her own way. Kenya's Shelmith Muriuki, the 2022 champion Alexandra Morozova and South Africa's own Irvette van Zyl are each capable of running the kind of times that could finally test Steyn's long dominance over the Up Run.
The men's contest looks more open than it has in some time. Defending Up Run champion Piet Wiersma returns to defend his title, but he faces relentless pressure from three-time winner Tete Dijana, whose pedigree on the climbs makes him a perennial danger. Former champion Edward Mothibi, the Russian contender Nikolai Volkov and the ever-consistent Joseph Manyedi are all credible threats to add their names to the roll of honour. Bookmakers narrowly favour Wiersma, but on a course this long and this unforgiving, the favourite's tag offers little protection once the hills of Inchanga and Polly Shortts begin to bite.
Beyond the elite battles, the Comrades remains first and foremost a test of the everyday runner. The bulk of the 21,633-strong field will be racing the clock rather than each other, with the famous cut-off gates and the twelve-hour final limit shaping the strategy of thousands. Organisers have once again deployed a three-group start to manage the swell of entrants, and the substitution ballot earlier in the year underlined just how fierce demand for a place has become. For many, simply earning a medal on the Up Run represents the achievement of a lifetime.
With the 100th running of the race already on the horizon for next year, the 2026 edition carries an added sense of anticipation as the event approaches its centenary milestone. Conditions on the day, as ever, will play their part: the Up Run rewards patience and punishes those who go out too hard down the early descents. Whether Steyn extends her remarkable streak, whether Wiersma holds off a deep men's field, or whether a new champion emerges, Sunday promises another chapter in what its organisers proudly call the Ultimate Human Race.