Monday, June 16, 2008

Comrades Marathon

Yesterday, we had about 10 000 people run almost past our home in the Comrades Marathon - [the worlds oldest and largest Ultramarathon] We live on a peninsula in a hilly area, so we become totally neighbourhood-locked for the duration of the race in our area. Many people in the community take their breakfast and chairs to the roadside and encourage the runners along. The front runners finish in around 6 hours, but the bulk of the runners finish around 12 hours after the start! The atmosphere is amazing and we snapped a few of the many runners who added a touch of creativity to their running gear! Brad Morgan of South Africa Info says: "The world's greatest ultra-marathon, 90 kilometres long, the Comrades is a South African institution, internationally recognised for the body-sapping challenge it poses and the camaraderie it fosters among its thousands of participants.
Run between the capital of the Kwazulu-Natal province, Pietermaritzburg, and the coastal city of Durban, the race alternates annually between the "up run" from Durban and the "down run" from Pietermaritzburg."

2 comments:

Estelle said...

I thought of you the whole day and wondered if you were out watching. I hoped you would post some pics.
I had the TV on all day, and shed a few tears as I usually do when the runners make it or don't make it!

Krissy | Paper Schmaper said...

great pictures! l think I'd be outside all day watching :)