Comrades Marathon 2026: The 85km Up Run
Today, June 14, 2026, 21,000 runners line up in Durban, South Africa for the 99th edition of the Comrades Marathon. 85.777 kilometers stand between them and the finish line in Pietermaritzburg. It's the world's most famous ultramarathon, and this year there are several compelling storylines to follow.
2026 Comrades: What You Need to Know
- 99th edition, it's an "up run" (Durban to Pietermaritzburg)
- 85.777 km with approximately 1,800m of elevation gain
- 21,000 runners entered, first time with 3 staggered wave starts
- Gerda Steyn chasing a historic fifth Comrades title
- Men's up run course record: Thompson Magawana (5:24:39, set in 1988)
What the Comrades Actually Is
If you haven't heard of the Comrades before, here's the context: it's a footrace of approximately 87km founded in 1921, alternating direction each year. The "up run" goes from Durban (sea level) to Pietermaritzburg (850m altitude). The "down run" is the reverse. The 2026 edition is an up run, considered harder by most runners.
The cutoff time is 12 hours. Elite runners finish in under 5:30. There are 5 finisher medal categories depending on your time (Gold, Wally Hayward, Silver, Bill Rowan, Bronze). And every finisher, elite or back-of-the-pack, gets the same welcome. That's what makes this race singular.
Women's Race: Gerda Steyn Chasing History
Gerda Steyn is the runner to watch today. She already has 4 Comrades victories to her name: the 2023 down run, 2024 up run, and 2025 down run. A win today would make her the first woman to win 5 Comrades titles. She's described approaching this race with a "last race" mindset, which in sport history is often the most dangerous fuel of all.
Her main rivals are Carla Molinaro (Great Britain) and Irvette van Zyl (South Africa), both capable of upsetting the favorites on this format.
Men's Race: Tete Dijana Wants the Up Run
Tete Dijana is the defending Comrades champion. He's won the down run in 2022, 2023, and 2025. But he's never won the up run, and that distinction matters. The up run demands more leg strength and a more conservative early pacing strategy. It's a different race technically.
His main competitors include Piet Wiersma (2024 up run winner), Nikolai Volkov (3rd in 2025), and South Africans George Kusche and Onalenna Khonkhobe.
The 2026 Innovation: 3 Wave Starts
For the first time in Comrades history, all 21,000 runners don't start together. Three staggered wave starts were organized to reduce congestion in the early kilometers, especially through technical sections. It's both a logistics and safety decision, and a sensible one for a race where the first few kilometers often define the rest of the day — a lesson also applied recently at the NYC Half Marathon's record 30,000-runner field.
Why This Race Is Different From Everything Else
The Comrades isn't just a long race. It's a cultural event in South Africa, run since 1921 to honor South African soldiers who died in World War I. Most of the 21,000 participants aren't trying to win. They're trying to finish. And in Comrades culture, finishing within the cutoff is a genuine victory — something that resonates with anyone who has followed what the body endures across 252km in the Sahara.
To follow live results, the Comrades Marathon streams on its official YouTube channel and at comrades.com.