Events/Comrades Marathon

Comrades Marathon

Running

Date

Sun, 13 Jun 2027

Venue

Pietermaritzburg → Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Countdown

June

Distance

89km

Total climb

1,400m

The world's biggest and oldest ultramarathon. Around 89km of rolling road from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, and 2027 is the 100th running: a Down Run, off at 05:30 on Sunday 13 June.

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The course

The route

Around 89km of rolling tarmac from Pietermaritzburg down to Durban, with roughly 1,400m of cumulative climbing across the named Big Five hills. On the Down Run the long descents dominate the middle of the race.

Weather

Mid-June, Pietermaritzburg → Durban

21°CTypical high

8°CTypical low

2°CColdest in 20 years

9%Days with rain

Highs around 21°C and lows around 8°C, but it has dropped to 2°C. Rain on 9% of days.

NASA POWER data, 2006-2025, the week either side of race day

2024 results

Who finishes, and how

#RiderTimeAvg speed

01Gerda Steyn5:49:4615.3 km/h

02Alexandra Morozova6:05:1214.6 km/h

03Courtney Olsen6:08:0914.5 km/h

Women finishers

7:04:53

Median time

12.6 km/h

Median speed

Women · 2024 results, as published by the organiser.

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Training

Training for the Comrades Marathon

We don't do generic plans. We combine deep knowledge of this race's demands with your recent training, then build a plan with you that progresses as you do.

Beina integrates directly with your existing tools to understand your current fitness, and synchronise your planned sessions.

Intervals.icu

89km that punishes your quads

Typical sessions

Around 89km on road, on your feet for many hours, from a pre-dawn 05:30 start.

Long Down-Run descents that batter the quads, plus the Big Five climbs to manage by effort.

A strict cutoff near 12 hours, with intermediate checkpoints you must reach in time.

Continuous fuelling from the gun: carbs, fluid, salt and real food, not marathon-style sips.

What your weeks look like

Typical sessions

A weekend long run building from 25km toward a peak of 55 to 70km, six to eight hours on feet.

Downhill durability sessions of repeated controlled descents to toughen the quads for the Down Run.

Back-to-back long weekends, a long run Saturday then another Sunday, to learn to run on tired legs.

Cutoff-pace practice: holding your target medal-bracket pace late in a long run.

Not a generic schedule

Typical sessions

Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have

Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond

Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo

One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet

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