COMRADES MARATHON RUNNERS RELIEF FUND UPDATE

The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) is pleased to provide an update on the Comrades Marathon Runners’ Relief Fund. The inspiring initiative was launched by the CMA in November last year.

In line with its Runners First initiative, the CMA had looked at ways of improving the runner experience and also assisting those disadvantaged athletes in making their Comrades Marathon entry affordable and within reach if they were unemployed or had a total annual income of less than R30-thousand.

The CMA had set aside R1-million to kickstart the Fund, which allowed for a reduction of 50% of the entry fee for up to 1500 South African entrants. Runners, supporters and the public at large were called upon to contribute to the Runners’ Relief Fund, and since its launch, the response was overwhelmingly positive.

821 athletes made donations, ranging from an amount of R1.00 to a substantial contribution of R5,000.00. A total of R119,818.00 in donations were made by runners to the Fund.

On the receiving end, an astounding 776 athletes benefitted from the Runners Relief Fund with the value of entry fees subsidized having amounted to R404,870.00. The current balance in the fund is R714,950.00 which will be carried forward to the 2025 race.