The Comrades Marathon was established in 1921. This ultramarathon is 90km. It is run annually, alternating between having the starting point in Durban one Year and Pietermaritzburg the next. This ultramarathon begins at 5:30am. Every competitor is charged with adrenalin and the excitement of finally getting to run the Comrades! Generally, the race leaders start too fast and as a result they can pull the entire field with them. 'This encourages, non-experienced runners- to use up all their resources, far too early!'

The Comrades Marathon entries have hit fever-pitch, with race organizer's forced to increase the capacity, for the World's biggest and oldest ultra-marathon from 15 000 to 20 000. When the start is from Pietermaritzburg City Hall, the athletes then run along Chief Albert Luthuli Street towards Durban then along Alan Paton Avenue where they run past the University and then contraflow onto the N3 national Freeway. From there, they will glide off venturing right onto the Market Road on ramp and then left onto the slip road to CB Downes Road and then follow the traditional Comrades route towards Polly Shorts and onwards to Durban. ('The opposite direction is explained later!')

The traditional Mayoral Baton, is handed to the race leader, upon entering Kingsmead Stadium. The 2019 race was the trek from Durban to Pietermaritzburg that Mothibi won, in a time of 5:31:33 while Steyn broke Elena Nurgalieva's 2006 up-run record of 6:09:24 with a spellbinding time of 5:58:53. The down-run records are held by David Gatebe (5:18:19 in 2016) and Frith van der Merwe (5:54:43 in 1989). The last down-run in 2018 was won by Bong'musa Mthembu (5:25:34) and Ann Ashworth (6:10:03). "In 2023, it was a rare occurrence that the race was a down run, in two consecutive Years. (This is when Pietermaritzburg is the starting point.) The main reason we're going back-to-back with down runs is, that this ultramarathon is out of sync in terms of up runs and down runs. Both the 2020 and 2021 races had to be cancelled after the Covid-19 pandemic. This was the first time since World War 2 that the race had not taken place!

Three years on, the Comrades had made a comeback, with athletes being mostly from South Africa. The number of competitors had increased by 5 000 as the result of post-Covid race fever." When the start is from Pietermaritzburg City Hall. The athletes run along Chief Albert Luthuli Street towards Durban then along Alan Paton Avenue where they run past the University and then contraflow onto the N3 national Freeway. From there, they will glide off venturing right onto the Market Road on ramp and then left onto the slip road to CB Downes Road and then follow the traditional Comrades route towards Polly Shorts and onwards to Durban. The climb is fairly gentle from the start out of Pietermaritzburg. The Mayoral Baton is handed to the race leader, upon entering Kingsmead Stadium.