The South African athletics world will set its eyes on the eagerly anticipated Comrades Marathon this coming weekend where international athletes will return to the road.

Following a two-year hiatus owing to the ravaging Corvid-19 pandemic, the race is set to make its return this year in KwaZulu-Natal.

Marketing and communications specialist for the Comrades Association, Delaine Cools, says everything is ready and it’s all for the runners to strut their stuff in the ultra marathon.

The road race takes place on Sunday 28 August 2022, and begins at the City Hall in Pietermaritzburg and finishes at Moses Mabhida stadium.

Local long-distance runners and those coming from abroad are set to partake in the famous 2022 Comrades marathon in KwaZulu-Natal this weekend.

“There’s lots of excitement in the air, especially if you’re in Durban or KZN, the excitement is really palpable…Covid-19 gave us more time to plan, Comrades does take more than 13 months of planning,” said Cools to EWN.

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The communications and marketing specialist added that the change of dates from June to August stemmed from complaints about harsh winter conditions in the country.

“We had runners in Gauteng complaining about winter and waking up in the cold. We wait to see how it pans out this year but from a planning stage, everything is on track,” she added.

Meanwhile, former winner Bruce Fordyce has shared a message of encouragement to this year’s participants, saying they must not start like cowards.

“I always started every comrades marathon very cautiously and I cannot over-emphasise that the best way for novices to start their first Comrades is slowly and wisely,” he said on The Citizen.

“Comrades does not reward the brave and bold, it rewards the meek. Starting like a coward means starting cautiously, holding back, treating the challenge with enormous respect, and keeping uppermost in mind that ahead lie 90 brutal hilly kilometres.”

The popular marathon is expected to get underway at 5:30 and runs until 17:30 on Sunday.

Main Image: Comrades Marathon.com/Twitter