Comrades Marathon ups prize money stakes big time, winners to get R500 000 from R260 000

The Comrades Marathon Association has given athletes every reason to not just win the 48th down run on 11 June, but break the records after substantially increasing the prize money for this year's edition.

The winning cash bag for the men's and women's athletes who cross the finishing line first at Kingsmead is R500 000, increasing from last year's R260 000 as the world's largest ultra-marathon gradually recovers to its pre-Covid financial standing.

Should the winners also break the down-run records set by David Gatebe (5:18:19 in 2016) and Frith van der Merwe (5:54:43 in 1989), they'll also receive an extra R500 000.

On top of that, should the winner be a South African and from the Kwa-Zulu Natal province, sums of R200 000 and R60 000 will be added to the winning kitty.

The second and third-place finishers will also have something to smile about in the event of not winning, with their prizes being increased to R250 000 and R180 000 respectively.

In all, the total prize money increased to R4.31-million from last year’s R2.27-million.

Last year's down-run, the first staging of the race since 2019 because of the Covid-19 pandemic that also took place in an unusual time of August, was won by Tete Dijana (5:30:38) and Russia's Alexandra Morozova (6:17:48)