Athletics South Africa (ASA) has announced that it is distancing itself from the Comrades Marathon and will not include it in official race calendars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The association said the decision is due to the event organisers failing to comply with governance and regulatory frameworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite repeated discussions, ASA decided that the Comrades event organisers had not satisfied the requirements for an event to be sanctioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The organisers have not satisfied the requirements necessary for sanctioning under the constitution, rules and regulations of KwaZulu-Natal Athletics, Athletics South Africa and World Athletics,” ASA said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 1 August 2026, members of the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) voted not to affiliate with either the ASA or KZN Athletics (KZNA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The CMA argued that there is no legal requirement for the event to be affiliated with these groups and that it can be run independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are confident that we have the resources, experience, and commitment to continue presenting a world-class event,” said CMA chairman, Mark Leathers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ASA said that the association had a duty to ensure that all events in South Africa are governed by a consistent framework, without exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As the national governing body for athletics in South Africa, Athletics South Africa has a responsibility to ensure that all athletics and road running events are conducted within a consistent governance framework, and in compliance with the applicable rules, regulations and standards,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“These requirements apply equally to all event organisers and cannot be selectively applied or disregarded.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Athletics South Africa confirms that the 100th Comrades Marathon has not been authorised or sanctioned through KwaZulu-Natal Athletics and formally distances itself from the organisation, administration and conduct of the event.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Comrades Marathon is one of the biggest sporting events in South Africa and has a global reputation for its difficulty and long history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2027 event will mark the 100th Comrades Marathon, a major milestone for the competition, which contributes significantly to the surrounding economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2026 Comrades event is estimated to have contributed approximately R1 billion in economic value, with R210 million in direct visitor spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The event boosts the tourism industry in KwaZulu-Natal, with a large number of international and domestic visitors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Athletics South Africa has announced it will distance itself from the Comrades Marathon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":870848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2089961069510828425","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2180460336107699","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[2170,26212,26213,26214],"class_list":["post-870841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-asa","tag-comrades-marathon","tag-kzna","tag-mark-leathers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870841"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870853,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870841\/revisions\/870853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}