By Amelia Naidoo & Stephanie Saville
With just two days to go before the race, religious leaders remained divided over the appropriateness of holding the Comrades Marathon on a Sunday.
However, some were eager to volunteer at the marathon's three interdenominational church stations that would hold services on Sunday, organisers said on Thursday.
Roman Catholic priest Father Teboho Matseke, 40, an athlete, said he was unhappy to be running the Comrades on a Sunday.
"For me, Sunday is a day of obligation to God and the church."
Matseke felt the timing of the race was not at all appropriate for him. He also felt that athletes would have appreciated a day of rest on a Sunday before returning to work on Monday, after running the marathon.
"This has forced me to leave all my duties as a priest at my parishes at Bosmant and Noordgesig in Gauteng. I have had to ask someone else to step in for me there, but I did prepare for this (the marathon) four months ago."
Matseke said that he would definitely make use of the prayer facilities en route. He is running his third Comrades and said he really enjoyed the race.
"Just don't let it be on a Sunday ever again," he said.
World Evangelical Alliance Chairman Ndaba Mazabane said that scheduling the Comrades on a Sunday was a set-back for Christians. However, the decision having been made, people should not "moan and mope about it", he said.
Mazabane said that many people in his congregation were finding it difficult to compromise their beliefs and choose between Sunday services and running. However, he supported those who were running, as well the Comrades Marathon Association's decision to hold church services.
"If you come to think of it, church is not confined to one place. Christians can still be witnesses (of God) as they run the Comrades," he said.
The association's General Manager, Gary Boshoff, said the organisation had received a largely positive response from churches, who had volunteered pastors to hold the services.
Boshoff said the association had sponsored tents which would hold about 30 chairs each for the runners. It was up to the pastors to supply portable pulpits and religious accoutrements including communion wine, wafers, incense, candles, prayer sheets and hymn books.
The first service would be held outside the city hall in Pietermaritzburg at 4.30am, an hour before the race began, the second at 3pm at the finish venue and the third would be at 5pm, also at the finish.