The 80th running of the Comrades Marathon on June 16 has injected a new lease of life into local road races.
With a festive Comrades Marathon being planned by the CMA this year - the race will be run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban - a host of first-timers are lining-up for local road races in an effort to qualify for the world famous ultra-marathon later in the year.
There are eight weeks remaining before the closing date for entries - Tuesday, 3 May 2005 - and that has been a flood of entries for local road races in the province, according to KwaZulu-Natal Athletics.
Joyce Smith, administrative manager of KwaZulu-Natal Athletics, confirmed on Monday that the Newlands 42,2km and 21,1km races at the weekend had attracted a record field. The Newlands 42,2km race was a Comrades qualifier.
"The awareness of the 80th running of Comrades Marathon has come out loud and clear since the beginning of the year. Hence the clubs are attracting large numbers of runners wishing to qualify for the world famous ultra-marathon," she said.
"We encourage all novices to participate in this year's Comrades - it's a historic race. For an athlete, running the Comrades Marathon is like climbing Everest," she said.
Smith appealed to those who missed out in qualifying at the weekend to watch out for future Comrades Marathon qualifying races around the provinces. - Sapa