page_title: Comrades Marathon
section_title: Course
hierarchical_section_title: Comrades Marathon / Course
caption_attribution_description: Afrikaans: Roete van die Comrades-maraton in KwaZulu-Natal, Suid-Afrika Русский: Схема трассы сверхмарафона The Comrades, Квазулу-Натал, Южно-Африканская Республика English: Comrades ultramarathon route, with the big five hills: Polly Shortts, Inchanga, Botha's, Fields and Cowies
context_page_description: The Comrades Marathon is an ultramarathon of approximately 89 kilometres which is run annually in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. It is the world's largest and oldest ultramarathon race. The direction of the race alternates each year between the "up" run starting from Durban and the "down" run starting from Pietermaritzburg.
  The 2019 field was capped at 25,000 runners, and the entry process closed after one week. South African runners constitute the greater part of the field, but many entrants hail from the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, India, the United States, Brazil, Australia, Botswana, Russia and Swaziland. In all but three runnings since 1988, over 10,000 runners have reached the finish within the allowed 11 or 12 hours. With increased participation since the 1980s, the average finish times for both sexes, and the average age of finishers have increased substantially.
  Runners over the age of 20 qualify when they are able to complete an officially recognised marathon in under five hours. During the event an athlete must also reach five cut-off points in specified times to complete the race.
context_section_description: The race is run on the roads of KwaZulu-Natal province, marked by "The Big Five" set of hills. On the up run they appear in the following order: Cowies Hill, Fields Hill, Botha's Hill, Inchanga, and Polly Shortts. The highest point of the race, at 2,850 feet (870 m) above sea level, is situated near Umlaas Road interchange. 40 official refreshment stations along the route are stocked with soft drinks, mageu, water sachets, energy drink sachets, fruit, biscuits, energy bars and cooked potatoes. Eight physiotherapy and first aid stations are also located at strategic points.
caption: Course of the ultramarathon
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