Madiba’s Rainbow Nation is still alive… although it took Comrades Marathon to see it

Jaco Van Der Merwe On the side of the road people from different walks of life bonded in sharing every runner’s trials and tribulations. A general view of the Comrades Marathon finish, 28 August 2022, at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. Picture: Michel Bega The Comrades Marathon is a national treasure deeply embedded into our…

Jaco Van Der Merwe

On the side of the road people from different walks of life bonded in sharing every runner’s trials and tribulations.

A general view of the Comrades Marathon finish, 28 August 2022, at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. Picture: Michel Bega

The Comrades Marathon is a national treasure deeply embedded into our society. Its reputation is of such magnitude that few other events – let alone sporting occasions – in Mzansi can rival it. The cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 races and a move to a later date in 2022, due to the Covid pandemic, meant that the onus on the first Comrades in over 38 months was going to be as big as it could ever be. What better way to celebrate post-Covid humanity than at “The Ultimate Human Race”? Even by its own lofty standards, what transpired between…