Comrades: Born From a 2,700 km March, Finished at 80

01A soldier who walked too far

Vic Clapham fought in German East Africa. He marched more than 2,700 km there. He came back with an idea: a living memorial, in the spirit of the fallen soldiers. Not a stone, a race. A test of endurance, for the body and for the mind.

02The refusals

A 56-mile race, close to 90 kilometers, between Pietermaritzburg and Durban? People took him for a madman. Clapham kept pushing, and finally won the backing of a veterans' association, for 1921. His stubbornness was already an ultra in itself.

03May 24, 1921

The date: Empire Day. The course: Pietermaritzburg to Durban, downhill. The length: 87.9 km according to South African History Online, about 89 in other accounts. A dirt road: only the last kilometers, inside Durban, were paved. The limit: 12 hours.

Forty-eight entrants, 34 starters, 16 finishers. Bill Rowan won in 8:59. The last man, Lew Pearson, finished in 12:20. Past the cutoff, but he was handed a special bronze medal. All the others received silver.

A century later, the logic has stayed: the Bill Rowan medal rewards 7:30 to 8:59, the copper Vic Clapham medal 11:00 to 11:59.

04Up, down

In principle, the direction flips every year. The “down,” from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, is known for descents that wreck your thighs. The “up,” from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, climbs more. Neither is a stroll.

05Wally Hayward, the old gentleman

Wally Hayward wins the Comrades in 1930, at 21. He comes back in 1950, at 41. They say he is too old. He wins again. Five victories in all: 1930, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954.

The wildest part comes later. In 1988, at 79, he finishes in 9:44. In 1989, at 80, he completes the “down” in 10:58:03: less than two minutes before the 11-hour cutoff. The oldest finisher in history, a record that would stand for 34 years.

In 2023, Johannes Mosehla, a former bricklayer from Limpopo, finishes at 81 in 9:26:10. Since then he keeps pushing his own mark: still a finisher in 2026, at 84.