Comrades Marathon

noun

1. the Comrades Marathon
   an annual long-distance race run every year on the 16th of June from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, a distance of approximately 90 kilometres (56 miles) Often shortened tothe Comrades

Word History and Origins

Origin of Comrades Marathon¹

C20: first run after WWI by returning servicemen to commemorate their fallen comrades

Example Sentences

South Africa's Comrades Marathon, linking Durban and Pietermaritzburg, describes itself as the oldest ultra-marathon in the world, stretching for about 55 miles through KwaZulu-Natal province.

From BBC

These next six months, Walmsley plans to take on ultrarunning’s two biggest races: South Africa’s 55-mile Comrades Marathon and the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, or UTMB, a 106-mile mountainous trek through the Alps.

From Slate

He struggled for most of the next decade and had one last surge of greatness to win the 55-mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa in 1994, at age 34.

From New York Times

Cheryl Winn, who chairs the Comrades Marathon Association, says the run is about “the power of the human spirit.”

From Seattle Times

I fell a day behind, which means I’ll have to run two marathons on the last day, it’s called the Comrades Marathon – 56 miles in a day is what I’m going to attempt.

From The Guardian