DUE to the safety of runners and logistics, Comrades Marathon organisers are not in a position to extend the entries beyond the 21 500 limit.
\The entries for the popular marathon reached 20 000 in just three weeks and were extended by a further 1 500 entries.
The 93rd Comrades 89km down run will be from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, on 10 June.
This year, 17 031 runners made it to the start in Durban, but demand was overwhelming.
It’s the first time in the history of the legendary marathon that entries have sold like hot cakes.
Marathon chair Sifiso Nzuza, who has run in 17 races, said the news confirmed the marathon status as one of the best in the world.
But he insisted it would be impossible to extend entries beyond the 1 500 mark, saying: “We’re very much aware that the Comrades Marathon is in big demand, but due to the safety of the runners and other logistics, we’re unable accommodate more participants at this stage.“We’re limited by a number of things, for instance our roads in Mzansi are narrow.
"You need wide roads to take in 30 000 runners. We don’t want congestion after 7km As much as we’d like to increase the pool of runners, safety remains our biggest priority.”
Nzuzasaid he was surprised to see the entries moving so fast. He attributed the rise in entries to their improved marketing strategy and the growth of the marathon.
But the elite runners and followers of the iconic marathon still believe the R440 000 for the winner is not justified, given the popularity of the marathon that attracts top runners from outside of the country.
He said: “It took us by surprise this has never happened before and this will serve as a wakeup call for us to plan big for 2019. The big interest has humbled us.”
Said Nzuza: “We’re listening to the runners and the followers of the marathon. We’re talking to sponsors and working on increasing the prize money. It will happen from 2019. We’re appealing to runners to be patient, as their wishes will be granted.”That’s our promise to them.”
