After months of training and hard work, the Comrades Marathon race day finally arrived. I joined more than 15,000 runners outside the city hall in Pietermaritzburg for a Down run. But don’t be fooled by the name, the 55 miles (87km) stretched out ahead promised a daunting mix of punishing hills all the way into Durban across KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The Comrades is a race that’s been on my bucket list for a decade. And to finally be here was magic but more than a little intimidating. An ultra you run like a road race is pretty unique. Did it live up to the tales and myths? Hit play on the video below to see how I got on being a novice at the Ultimate Human Race.
Comrades Marathon 2023: What it’s like to run your first Comrades
