HISTORY
COMRADES MEDALS
Athletes currently have 12 hours to complete the course, extended from 11 hours in 2003. There are a number of cut-off points along the routes which runners must reach by a prescribed time or be forced to retire from the race. A runner who has successfully completed nine marathons wears a yellow number, while those who have completed ten races wear a green number, permanently allocated to the runner for all future races.
Medals are awarded to all runners completing the course in under 12 hours.
MEDALS CURRENTLY AWARDED
- Gold medals: The first 10 men and women.
- Wally Hayward medals (men) - silver-centred circled by gold ring: 11th position to sub 6hrs 00min.
- Isavel Roche-Kelly medals (women) - silver-centred circled by gold ring: 11th position to sub 7hrs 30min.
- Silver medals (men): 6hrs 00min 01sec to sub 7hrs 30min.
- Bill Rowan medals - bronze-centred circled by silver ring: 7hrs 30min to sub 9hrs 00min.
- Robert Mtshali medals - titanium: 9hrs to sub 10hrs 00min.
- Bronze medals: 10hrs 00min to sub 11hrs 00min.
- Vic Clapham medals - copper: 11hrs 00min to sub 12hrs 00min.
Prior to 2000, only gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded. The Bill Rowan medal was introduced in 2000 and named after the winner of the first Comrades Marathon in 1921. The time limit for this medal was inspired by Rowan's winning time in 1921 of 8hrs 59min. A new copper medal, the Vic Clapham medal named after the race founder, was added in 2003. This medal coincided with the increase in the time allocation for completing the event from sub 11hrs to sub 12hrs. The Wally Hayward medal, named after five-time winner Wally Hayward, was added in 2007 for runners finishing in under 6hrs.
GREEN NUMBER
There is a lot of prestige associated with a Comrades Marathon Green Number. As a result, many athletes aim to complete at least 10 races, which is evident as a clear peak in the distribution of medal counts.[20] The introduction of the back-to-back medal (for running your first and second races in succession) resulted in another peak for athletes with 2 medals.
1975 VINCENT RAKABAELE
1979 ALAN ROBB
1983 BRUCE FORDYCE
MEDALS SINCE 1921
1921
2003
1931
2007
1972
2019
2000
2019
written by Mike Bath
The Comrades Marathon medal has remained true in size and design since its inception in 1921. There are some that speak slightingly of its size and general appearance as being insignificant, but as Morris Alexander wrote in his book " The Comrades Marathon Story":
"No sports medals have ever been so dearly won and cherished as the Comrades Marathon medals. It was surely an original stroke of genius on the part of Comrades founder Vic Clapham to reward with these medals the efforts of all those who completed the course within the prescribed time".
The medal is 29mm in diameter and depicts the words "COMRADES MARATHON" and "MARITZBURG - DURBAN" encircling a striding figure of Hermes with winged feet and helmet. It would seem that the figure of Hermes was chosen as the emblem of Comrades Marathon on the basis of his renown as the messenger of the gods according to Greek mythology.
He was also the god of land travel and the patron of roads and his relevance to Comrades can perhaps be drawn from this connection.
1921
2000
His winning time being 8hrs 59min, therefore anyone winning a Bill Rowan would have complete the event faster than the winner of the first race.
2019
This new medal, specifically for females, will be awarded to those women finishing in Position 11 to sub 7 hours 30 minutes; i.e. outside the gold medals, but under 7 hours 30 minutes, and exactly like the coveted Wally Hayward Medal it will be comprised of half Silver and half Gold.
1931
2003
This coincides with the increase in the time allocation for completing the event from sub 11hrs to sub 12hrs.
2019
Athletes who complete the Comrades Marathon in 9 hours to sub-10 hours will be awarded the newly introduced Robert Mtshali Medal. Made of Titanium.
1972
2005
Back medal was introduced in 2005 and henceforth was awarded to novice runners who complete an 'up or down run' in succession.
In terms of the implementation thereof, Back-to-Back medals were automatically awarded to 2005 Comrades Marathon finishers who had completed their first Comrades Marathon in 2004. As with any new innovation, the award was never intended to be retrospective, owing to administrative restrictions.
However, in response to popular demand, the CMA have decided to make the Back-to-Back medal available for purchase to runners who have previously fulfilled the criteria of completing both an 'up' and a 'down' Comrades Marathon.
1980
Gold medals became sterling silver medals plated with gold and Silver medals were to be silver plating over 'high quality gilding metal'.
2007
This new medal is awarded to those who do not finish in the top 10, yet complete the race within six hours. The late Wally Hayward was one of the greatest ever Comrades Marathon runners. His seven medals included five wins, three of them record breaking runs.
He had a remarkable Comrades career spanning 60 years. Wally remains the oldest person ever to finish the race.
COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS
On only three occasions has the medal changed in size and design. The size of the commemorative medal has remained constant at 40mm diameter although the design of the medal has been specific to the occasion.
1975 - A special medal was struck to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Comrades Marathon. This medal bore a commemorative '50'.1988 - A special medal was struck to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the City of Pietermaritzburg.
2000 - A special medal was struck to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Comrades Marathon and the Millennium Race. This was one of the few medals to change the wording "MARITZBURG - DURBAN" to read "DURBAN - MARITZBURG".
In 2005 the 80th year the world famous event was held, saw a subtle but distinct difference for 2005 medal.
The traditional Comrades Marathon medal has not changed in 80 years - it is both humble and precious, so CMA do not tamper with the actual medal. However, the 2005 date bar attached to the medal was specially designate of the 80th celebrations and was attached to a special commemorative ribbon.
MEDALS IN THE WOMEN'S RACE
Women were first acknowledged in 1975 with them being awarded Bronze Medals.
From 1979 to 1981 a Silver Medal was awarded to the 1st Woman.
In 1983 a Gold Medal was introduced for the 1st Woman.In 1988 Gold Medals were awarded to the first 3 Women and in 1995 this was increased to the first 5 Women.
From 1998 the first 10 Women were awarded Gold Medals, the same as the men's event.
