ASA vs CMA

What's Really Going On With the Comrades Marathon?

Welcome, fellow runners and fitness enthusiasts.  The ongoing dispute between Athletics South Africa (ASA) and the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) has become one of the biggest talking points in South African running.

For many runners, though, the situation can feel complicated and difficult to follow. The debate involves everything from race sanctioning and federation structures to membership, governance, licensing, broadcasting rights and legal processes. At the centre of it all is the Comrades Marathon and, more importantly, its historic 100th edition scheduled for 13 June 2027.

What should be a celebration of one of the world's most iconic ultra-marathons has instead become overshadowed by an escalating governance battle.

The dispute has now reached a critical point. ASA has publicly stated that the 2027 Comrades Marathon is not sanctioned by the national federation, while the CMA has made it clear that it intends to continue operating independently and is pressing ahead with plans for the centenary race.

So how did things get to this stage?

And perhaps more importantly for runners, what does this fight actually mean for the future of the Comrades Marathon?

How It All Began

To understand the current standoff, we need to go back to 2025.

For many years, the CMA operated as a special member of KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA), allowing it to organise the Comrades Marathon within the established provincial athletics framework.

That relationship began to unravel in November 2025 when CMA members voted to withdraw the association's special membership from KZNA. Following that decision, the CMA sought direct affiliation with Athletics South Africa.

ASA, however, rejected the request.

The national federation maintained that its governance structures do not allow for the CMA to affiliate directly and that the association would need to work through KZNA, which remains the officially recognised provincial athletics body in KwaZulu-Natal.

That left the CMA in a difficult position.

It had already decided it no longer wanted to remain affiliated with KZNA, but ASA was also unwilling to accept it as a directly affiliated member. What could potentially have been resolved through negotiations instead developed into a very public disagreement that has continued to grow ever since.

Why KZNA Is Central to the Dispute

For many runners, KZNA may seem like a behind-the-scenes administrative body. In reality, it plays a crucial role within the athletics structure.

KZNA is the officially recognised provincial athletics federation for KwaZulu-Natal and forms part of the governance framework recognised by both ASA and World Athletics.

ASA's position is straightforward: athletics in South Africa must operate through its established national and provincial structures. As the country's recognised member federation of World Athletics, ASA believes all athletics events should function within that system.

This is where the clash with the CMA emerges.

The CMA believes it should have greater autonomy in managing and governing the Comrades Marathon, while ASA and KZNA argue that, regardless of its history or prestige, Comrades remains an athletics event and must comply with the sport's recognised governance framework.

A key point often overlooked is that organising a road race and having that race recognised within the official athletics system are not necessarily the same thing. Even KZNA acknowledged this distinction when it called for independent mediation earlier this year.

As the dispute continues, that distinction may become increasingly important.

The Fight Over the 2027 Race

The dispute intensified when the CMA announced that the 100th Comrades Marathon would be held on 13 June 2027.

The centenary event, which is scheduled to be a Down Run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, is expected to be one of the largest and most significant editions in the race's history.

KZNA objected to the announcement, arguing that it had not sanctioned the event. The CMA, however, maintained that it had received approval through ASA.

That disagreement quickly created further conflict, with ASA later stating that any approval granted outside the recognised governance processes was invalid and that race dates should be approved through KZNA.

For many runners, this was the moment the dispute became impossible to ignore.

Up until then, the disagreement may have looked like an administrative battle between organisations. Suddenly, questions were being raised about the status of the Comrades Marathon itself.

For athletes investing months of training, booking accommodation, arranging travel and planning qualification races, uncertainty around the event's official standing became a genuine concern.

And that's why this dispute matters far beyond boardrooms and committee meetings.

At its heart, it's about the future of South Africa's most iconic road race and the thousands of runners hoping to stand on the start line in Pietermaritzburg on 13 June 2027.