A THREE-DIMENSIONAL HISTORICAL RECORD OF THE COMRADES MARATHON CHAMPIONS

The trophy for the men’s winner was instituted for the first time in 1922, after it was purchased for £70 (Seventy British Pounds) from E.G. Kerby & Co in Pietermaritzburg, with donations from the Durban Turf Club, Clairwood Turf Club and the City Sporting Club. They could not have chosen a better trophy. Its beautiful design features two snake handles, aptly tying in with the emblem of the Comrades Marathon, which features Hermes, a god in Greek mythology, carrying a staff known as the Caduceus, which has two snakes wrapped around it. Hermes was, amongst other things, a messenger of the gods, and according to legend, his staff had magical powers. 

The first recipient of the winner’s trophy was Arthur Newton, who won his first Comrades Marathon that year, finishing in a time of 8:40:00. He became the first multiple winner of the Comrades Marathon when he won again thereafter, scooping the trophy five times in the 1920s. At the time, winners were allowed to keep the floating trophy for one year.

The name of every winner, their finishing time and the year, has been engraved on the trophy, including that of the first champion, Bill Rowan, who made history when he won the first Comrades Marathon on the 24th of May 1921. 

This makes the trophy a one-of-a-kind, three-dimensional record of all the Comrades Marathon men’s winners. 

Engravings were done on the trophy itself up to 1940, but when the race resumed in 1946, after World War II (1939-1945), the details were added onto small metal shields attached onto the base. And from thereon the engravings also included whether it was an Up Run or Down Run. 

The trophy did not initially have a base - it was only added later, and for the first few decades of the race, several different bases were used.