Runners Platform SA

Welcome, fellow runners and fitness enthusiasts. Entering the Comrades Marathon is one thing. Qualifying for it is another. For thousands of runners preparing for the 2027 centenary race, the qualifier will be the first serious checkpoint of the journey. You need an official result. You need to achieve the required time. More importantly, you need to do it without wrecking the training block that follows. That last part is easily forgotten. A qualifier can become a race within the race. You start thinking about seeding, personal bests and what everyone else in the club is running. Before long, the marathon that was supposed to secure your place at Comrades becomes an all-out effort requiring several weeks of recovery. There is a better way to approach it. The qualifier needs a purpose. For some runners, that purpose is simply getting under five hours. Others want a faster result that may eventually help their starting position. Experienced runners might use the marathon as part of a la...