Comrades Ultra Marathon history

The 98th Comrades Marathon in 2025 will be held on Sunday, June 8th. This will be the 49th Down Run, starting at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall and finishing at Durban’s People’s Park. The race distance is approximately 89km, and the race will start at 05h30. This is a good time to look at who was behind the world’s biggest ultra-marathon, also known as the Ultimate Human Race.

It owes its origin, title and ethos to Victor (Vic) Clapham, the founder of the Comrades Ultra Marathon. He was so inspired by the dedication, stamina and bravery of his fellow soldiers in World War I that he decided to start an annual event to commemorate the fallen soldiers and to express his gratitude to one comrade who saved his life. The race has been run every year since 1921, except for the years 1941-1945 during World War II.

Victor was born in London, England, on 16 November 1886, the son of William and Eleanor Clapham. His World War I attestation form records that he served in the Cradock Town Guard and the Cape Peninsula Rifles during the Anglo-Boer War. There was a V. Clapham and a W. Clapham in the Cradock Town Guard, according to WO100/280.

The year of arrival for the family is noted as 1899; however, I have only found the following in shipping lists to the Cape:

Sailed from Southampton on the Arundel Castle, departing 29 February 1896:
Mrs Clapham, age 31
Mr Clapham, age 23, single, a painter
W. Clapham, male, age 8,
B. Clapham, male, age 5
M. Clapham, female, age 3
N. Clapham, female, age 1

Sailed from Southampton on the Germam, departing 26 February 1904:
Mrs E.C. Clapham, age 40
V. Clapham, age 17, a clerk
A. Clapham, age 15
M. Clapham, age 10
E. Clapham, age 6

Sailed from Southampton on the Kenilworth Castle, departing 01 October 1904:
Mr W.H. Clapham

Sailed from Southampton on the Avondale Castle, departing 29 October 1904::
Mr Clapham, married

Some sources say the family settled in Cradock. I found that Victor’s family settled in Observatory, Cape Town, where he walked from his house to Wynberg Boys’ School every day. He received a tickey a day to catch the train home after school so he could help in his father’s grocery shop on Main Road, Observatory. One day he bought sweets with the tickey, and walked back from school, only to receive a hiding from his mother when she found out. He never repeated that again.

With the outbreak of World War I, Victor volunteered with the 8th South African Infantry and took part in the East African Campaign in German East Africa (now Tanzania). He suffered from blackwater fever, dysentery and malaria. After collapsing one day, a comrade, Ernest Freemantle, carried him for more than 50 km in over 40°C heat. Victor was sent home to Pietermaritzburg via Mombasa by wagon and then hospital ship. He was medically boarded in 1917. He worked as a fireman for the Natal Government Railways and enrolled for further studies. After graduating with top marks, he was presented with an oak desk. Victor later became a train driver for the South African Railways. He married Nellie Eliza Parks in Ladysmith in October 1912. She was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, England, daughter of James Parks. They had 6 sons:

1) Victor (Vic) James was born on 24 September 1913. He married Helen Felicitas Minnie Thelma Vivienne Marguerite (aka Vivienne Marguerite, born 23 July 1910, died in 1995 at Braemar Nursing Home in Pinetown). He died on 19 July 1994 and last lived at 32 Chapel Road, Botha’s Hill. He was a graphic artist. Vic joined the Army when World War II broke out. He was involved in forming the Springbok Legion, a politically liberal organisation for soldiers and veterans. After the war he worked as an information official for the United Party and as a cartoonist for The Guardian newspaper. In 1931 he took part in the Comrades but had to pull out with cramps. Later he joined Lindsay Smithers, rising to creative director of what was to become one of South Africa’s largest advertising agencies. He founded the First Hillcrest Scouts. In 1976 he was awarded the Bronze Wolf by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting. His illustrations appeared in South African and international Scout publications. He established the Veld Lore newspaper at his Rover Crew in Natal in about 1947, which soon became the provincial publication and then the national newspaper for Scouts. He continued publishing it until his death. He pioneered the Join-In Jamboree concept for Scouts in their home countries during World Scout Jamborees. The concept earned the highest award from the Public Relations Society of America in 1976.

2) Hugh Albert was born on 22 March 1915. He was a sergeant in the 2 Royal Durban Light Infantry and the 4 Brigade of the 2 South African Division (Union Defence Force) during World War II. He was mentioned in despatches. He married Eva Ada Snell on 26 October 1940.

3) Douglas Ernest was born on 04 November 1914. He married Marjorie Martens on 11 July 1940. He was a display artist and cyclist. He had one son. He died in Pietermaritzburg in 2003.

4) Marcus Leonard was born on 04 January 1920. He married Ada de Villiers on 30 August 1943. He was a long-distance cyclist and served in World War II. Marcus worked for the South African Railways and lived at 397 Burger Street in Pietermaritzburg.

5) Eric William was born on 13 August 1922. He married Winifred Sarah McGill, and they divorced in 1962. He died on 19 June 2006. His second marriage was to Barbara Ann Austen on 03 November 1962. They lived at 31 Orient Road in Wynberg, Cape Town.

6) Ronald Parks was born on 01 October 1925 in Pietermaritzburg. He married Pauline Margaret Pretorius on 15 June 1946 in Queenstown. They divorced in 1956. His second marriage was to Thelma Winifred Murray on 03 October 1957 in Durban. Ronald died in 1958 in Durban.

The returning WWI soldiers formed the League of Comrades of the Great War. In 1918, Victor approached the League of Comrades with his idea for a road race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban. The idea did not receive a warm reception. Victor made another attempt in 1919 and 1920 but faced rejection once more. He persisted until he gained approval in 1921 and received a loan of £1 to have the race run under the League’s auspices.

The first race, which was about 54 miles long, took place on Empire Day, 24 May 1921, starting outside Pietermaritzburg City Hall. Jack Stodel, who was a cinema cameraman, recorded the event. There were 48 entrants; 34 of them lined up for the start, but only 16 finished the event. The starter’s gun was fired by Councillor Daniel Sanders, the mayor of Pietermaritzburg, at 7:10 a.m. Only the last few kilometres of the course into Durban were tarred, while the rest consisted of sand roads. It was won by William (Bill) Rowan, a 26-year-old farmer from Koster, in 8 hours and 59 minutes, with Harry J. Phillips in second place at 9:40 and John A. Annan in third place at 10:10. The first Comrades medals in 1921 were silver, awarded to all finishers up until 1931. L.E.W. Pearson was given a bronze medal in 1921. He struggled to finish the race but completed the distance in a time of 12 hours and 20 minutes. The Natal Advertiser of May 24, 1921, described the event as a “go-as-you-please marathon”.

The time limit for the first Comrades was 12 hours. In 1928 it was reduced to 11 hours. In 2000 it was returned to 12 hours and a special Vic Clapham medal was given to those who finished in the last hour.

During the first race, a troop of Boy Scouts camped alongside the main road in Pinelands. Unaware of the race, the Boy Scouts were surprised to see a convoy of cars approach. One of the Scouts was 12-year-old Vernon Jones, who later became the most significant recorder of Comrades history. Years later, he recalled witnessing a dishevelled runner, covered in sand and sweat. That runner was Bill Rowan, the winner, who was at that point 13 miles short of the finish. Vernon never met Bill, but he did meet every winner who followed him, including Bruce Fordyce.

In the early days, Victor was chairman, secretary, publicist and organiser of the race. He didn’t have a car or telephone, all his contacts were made by mail or in person. He did all of this until 1938, when his job as a train driver saw him transferred to Ladysmith. He never ran the race but chose the course. Every year, he welcomed new runners with a letter addressed to “Dear Lunatic.” Runners would go to his house at 113 Greyling Street before the race. Victor provided them with donated tea, milk and biscuits. On the morning of the race, his son Douglas would have to cycle around Pietermaritzburg from 4.30 a.m. with a notebook and pencil to wake up the runners. Each runner had to sign the notebook. Victor’s wife, Nellie, would fry a steak and egg on her coal stove for each runner. The children also contributed by packing the runners’ bags onto a motor trolley, which followed the runners and acted as the exclusive transport for the race reporter. If a runner was in pain along the way, the children would give them Elliman’s liniment for sore muscles. They also offered the runners water along the way and picked up those who dropped out.

During his lifetime, Victor was responsible for starting 15 MOTH (Member of the Tin Hat) Shellholes in South Africa. He was in charge of the Warrior’s Gate MOTH Museum in Durban. He died on October 5, 1962. Nellie died on May 07, 1962.

In 2011, Victor’s great-grandson, Anthony Clapham, ran the Comrades Marathon, becoming the only family member to complete the race. His grandfather was Victor James. Anthony lives in Pietermaritzburg, and his sport of choice is cycling in races such as the Argus.

The Comrades Museum and administrative centre on Connaught Road in Scottsville were designed by Wynand Claasen, the former Springbok rugby captain who was an architect by profession. His father, George Claasen, won the race in 1961.

The direction of the race alternates each year, with the up run starting from Durban and the down run starting from Pietermaritzburg. In 1988, the race finished in Pietermaritzburg for the second consecutive year to celebrate Pietermaritzburg’s 150th anniversary. The race features the Big Five, which are the hills along the route: Cowies Hill, Field’s Hill, Botha’s Hill, Inchanga, and Polly Shortts.

Polly Shortts is one of the most famous landmarks along the route. For many years, the name was misspelt. In August 1961, the Natal Mercury traced the misspelt name. The British sent a Scottish doctor to examine Napoleon Bonaparte, who was in exile on St Helena. During the trip, the wife of the doctor gave birth to twins on 19 December 1815. She died in childbirth, along with one of the twins. The surviving child, Portland Bentinck Shortts (aka Polly), went back to Britain with his father but moved to South Africa in 1840. Polly settled on a farm named Shortts’ Retreat, located outside Pietermaritzburg, about a mile from the Star and Garter Pub, which was built 25 yards outside the Pietermaritzburg boundary and was therefore free to sell liquor on Sundays. Polly was an eccentric character and a regular visitor to the pub. He loved whisky, had a fiery temper, and would often point his shotgun at anyone who irritated him while sitting on the stoep and enjoying his drink. In 1869, he settled in New Brighton, on the Bluff, where he lived with his wife, Jane Sarah Wakefield, until his death on February 28, 1885. He made a living from fish-curing, a salt works and making jam. Polly and Jane had seven children.

According to Cape archival documents, Francis Shortt and his wife Sarah Johanna Rosina Hugo adopted Portland, the illegitimate son of Jane Goodricke and Walter Bentinck. Walter Bentinck served as the auditor general of the Cape Colony from 1808 to 1812. He returned to England on three months’ leave in January 1812, after the death of his father. He returned to the Cape in May 1814. He bought Rustgeworden, located on the Liesbeeck River, in October 1814. His twin sons, Walter and Portland, were born on 19 December 1815 and were baptised on 14 January 1816. By January 1833, he had returned to England. Sarah was the daughter of Catharina Maria Cesars van de Kaap, who was the widow of Cornelis Johannes HUGO. Sarah’s paternal grandmother was. Rosina Wilhelmina Hendriks van de Kaap, who was born into slavery. Francis arrived at the Cape on 15 April 1807 aboard the ship Fly, which had departed from Portsmouth. He established himself as a shipping agent at 2 Wale Street in Cape Town. He was from Annan, Dumfries. He married Sarah at the Cape on 04 August 1817. On 12 September 1817, he obtained a surgeon’s license and established consulting rooms at 12 Tuinwyk. Sarah died in August 1821, and Francis applied for permission to leave the Cape on board the Ann for New South Wales in June 1822.

After Polly Shortts, there is Ashburton, which is named after the hometown in Devon of William Ellis, who settled in the area after making his fortune during the Australian gold rush. Further along the route, a sign reading “Lion Park” indicates the location of South Africa’s first such park, which was established by Dick Chipperfield of Chipperfield’s Circus.

Camperdown was the home of John Vanderplank, a young English naval officer who introduced black wattle to the area. His brother Charles, who was living in Australia, sent him the seeds that John planted as a hedge. The tannery industry began using the bark of the black wattle as a source of tannic acid in 1887. John was buried at the Church of the Resurrection cemetery. His wife laid the foundation stone for the church.

Cato Ridge is named after George Christopher Cato (25 Feb 1814-1893), who was a landowner during the early days of Durban. He was Durban’s first mayor. The family were Huguenots, originally named Caton, who settled in London. They were silk-weaving traders who moved to the Cape in 1826 and settled in Grahamstown. When George was 12 years old, his father was killed by an elephant in the Addo bush, and he left to find work in Algoa Bay. He married Elizabeth Griffin in 1834. In 1838, he sailed on an expedition to explore and trade in Port Natal. The following year, he and his brother Christopher Joseph set out with their wives and children to settle in Port Natal. That same year, he sailed to Delagoa Bay on the Mazeppa to rescue the survivors of Trichardt’s trek. His trading business expanded to include a small shipping agency and a fleet of coasters that worked between Algoa Bay and Port Natal. These ships tied up at the foot of Stanger Street, which has been known for many years as Cato’s Creek. While the port was still under the government of the Natalia Republic, George was asked to lay out a plan for a town to be called D’Urban. When the trekkers besieged the British troops at Congella in 1842, the Cato brothers are said to have helped Dick King and his servant, Ndongeni, by ferrying them across the bay so they could ride to Grahamstown for help. George was among 10 English settlers who were taken to the camp at Congella and then sent handcuffed to Pietermaritzburg, where they were kept in stocks as punishment for having British sympathies. The British government appreciated his services by awarding him unappropriated land in 1845. In 1854, the town attained municipal status, leading to his election as mayor. He died in Durban on 09 July 1893.

Drummond is named after Sir Charles F. Drummond, a former director of the Natal Land and Colonisation Company.

Arthur’s Seat is named after Arthur Newton, who was a five-time race winner. He’d take a break there, and legend has it that those runners who pay their respects by leaving a flower in his honour will be rewarded with a successful finish. Further along the route, the Wall of Honour includes bricks purchased by finishers and reflects their names, race numbers, and any little quirks they may wish to add.

Botha’s Hill was named after Captain Cornelis Botha, who owned Botha’s Halfway House Inn and served as a former harbour master in Durban. He married Deborah Maritz, who was the daughter of the Voortrekker leader Gerhardus (Gerrit) Maritz.

Field’s Hill is named after John Field, who was the brother of William Swan Field, Durban’s first magistrate. The British government awarded William a farm called Richmond in 1851 to recognise his services and contributions to the Byrne immigration scheme. In 1867, William relinquished the farm to John. John’s son-in-law, William Gillit, named his farm Emberton, and a portion of that farm became known as Hill Crest. Field’s Hill is the longest, steepest, and most damaging section of the course. At the bottom of the hill lies an industrial and residential area that owes its existence to the Wayside Hotel. The Wayside Hotel was established in 1849 as a place to exchange horses while travellers enjoyed refreshments. The following year saw the construction of Pinetown, named for Sir Benjamin Pine, the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal (1849-1856) and later Governor (1873-1875). Pinetown was for a time the home of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout Movement. The original house remains intact.

Cowie’s Hill is named after William Cowie, the son of Scottish settlers and a farmer who joined the Voortrekker group led by Jacobus Johannes Uys and his son Piet into Natal in 1837. William had lived in Uitenhage and married Magdalena Josina Laas. Andries van Tonderen sold the farm Tafelberg to William on 11 July 1844 for £225. The nearby hill, originally known as Steilhoogte, was later renamed Cowie Hill. On 22 December 1844, William received his appointment as postmaster in Durban. He died on October 23, 1856.

In 1847, two German settlers, Hypolite Jargal and Philipp Jakob Jung, purchased land near Durban and named it Wandsbeck. The following year, Jonas Bergthiel, a British merchant, brought 183 German immigrants to South Africa on the ship Beta, which left Bremen in November 1847 and arrived at Port Natal on 23 March 1848. He renamed the settlement Wandsbeck to Westville in honour of Martin Thomas West, who was the first lieutenant governor of Natal and under whose administration most Voortrekkers left Natal. The settlers were given 210 acres each, with 10 acres designated for growing vegetables and the remaining land allocated for cotton cultivation. The government gave the settlers the land for free, but they had to buy their own farming implements and oxen. Cotton farming was unsuccessful, and the settlers changed to successfully grow vegetables and flowers. Westville’s oldest building, circa 1840, houses the Bergtheil Museum, named after Jonas.

The hill known as 45th Cutting is named after a British infantry regiment, the 45th Regiment of Foot. The area is named Sherwood, after the Sherwood Foresters, which is a nickname for the regiment that was stationed there between 1843 and 1859 and constructed a cutting through the hill using picks and shovels.

The first woman to run the race was Frances Hayward, a British-born typist from Durban, in 1923, but her entry was refused, so she ran as an unofficial entrant. She completed the race in 11:35, and although she was not awarded a Comrades medal, the other runners and spectators presented her with a silver tea service and a rose bowl. Frances was also an accomplished distance swimmer. She died in 1977.

In 1931, Geraldine Isobel Watson, a Durban schoolteacher and one of the unofficial entrants, completed the race in 11:35. She had only trained for six weeks. In 1932, she ran unofficially again, finishing in 11:56, and she became the first woman to complete both the up run and the down run. In 1933, she completed her third consecutive Comrades Marathon after six months of training, finishing with a time of 9:31. Geraldine participated in nearly every Comrades Ultra Marathon since the 1920s as a spectator, competitor, helper, and attendant. Geraldine was born on March 5, 1890, in Woodford, Northamptonshire, England. She was the seventh daughter of the Rev. J.T. Watson, who was the Rector of Woodford, and Marion Grace, who was the daughter of Sir Courtenay Honeywood, Baronet. Geraldine attended Bishop Otter Memorial College in Chichester. She arrived in Natal in 1911. She taught in Natal from 1911 to 1923, then in the Cape from 1923 to 1928, and returned to teach in Natal again in 1928. She lived at the Esplanade Hotel in Durban during 1932 and 1933. Geraldine died in 1975, the Golden Jubilee Year, which marked the official opening of the race for women. She donated the Geraldine Watson Trophy for the last runner to finish.

The women who participated in the unofficial years included the well-known ultra-distance runner Mavis Hutchinson (also known as the Galloping Granny), who completed eight Comrades races. Mavis Hutchinson ran her first Comrades in 1965 and again the following year, becoming the second woman to complete both an up run and a down run. Her first run inspired Maureen Holland, who watched her run past in Pinetown, to attempt the race in 1966. Maureen ran six Comrades races and achieved the best time for women runners when she completed the course in 8:32 in 1971. She died in October 2011. Lettie van Zyl ran unofficially starting in 1973 and later secured three consecutive wins in 1976, 1977, and 1978. In 1967, Elizabeth (Betty) Cavanagh impulsively decided to try running while she was waiting for her husband Tony to finish his training session at Alexandra Park. She was in her mid-30s and had never participated in any sport before. She ran her first Comrades in 1970, finishing with 10 minutes to spare. She became the first official women’s winner in just over 10 hours in 1975 and went on to earn her Green Number by completing 10 Comrades. In 2019 Gerda Steyn won the up-run in 5 hours, 58 minutes, and 53 seconds, becoming the first woman to do so in under six hours.

In 1924, the Natal Witness donated a silver tea set as the first prize, but Arthur Newton declined it because he believed he had more time to train than his competitors, and he subsequently donated it to the runner-up. In 1928, the newspaper donated £25 as its first prize.

In 1931, Herbert Philip (Phil) Masterton-Smith, a youngster who had finished just 37 seconds behind the winner the previous year, went on to win the race in 7:16, becoming the youngest winner at age 19. In 1932, he finished sixth, but in 1933, the Great Depression left him in Cape Town without enough money to take a train to the race. Consequently, he spent 10 days cycling the 1,730 km to Pietermaritzburg before running the Comrades, where he finished 10th in a time of 8:00. Lance Bombardier Phil was killed in action by a mortar bomb on June 5, 1942, while serving with the Royal Natal Carbineers in the Alem Hamza area of the Gazala Line. The Unogwaja Challenge was initiated in his memory, as he was affectionately known as Unogwaja, which translates to The Hare in isiZulu, because he preferred training in hilly terrain. Phil was the son of Percy William Robert Smith and Alice Maud Brown. He married Esther E. Smith, who resided in Goodwood, Cape Town. The current age limit for entrants is now 20 years, so his record will stand.

In 1935, Robert Mtshali, a young black runner, completed the race as an unofficial entrant in 9:30. He received a special award from Councillor Vernon Lyall Shearer. A plaque bearing his name was unveiled on June 10, 2005, at the Comrades Museum, dedicated to all the men and women who completed Comrades prior to 1975. In 2005, his only surviving daughter, Sibongile Mtshali (43), was residing in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth. Robert died on June 1, 1967, while walking home from his roadworks job. A car knocked him over on Ferguson Street, Port Elizabeth. He had moved to the city in the 1940s and bought the house where Sibongile still lives.

In 1948, another Comrades tradition began when race official Max E. Trimborn, instead of firing the starter’s gun, imitated the loud crow of a cock. That tradition continues today, with his recorded voice being played over loudspeakers. Max took part in the 1935 race, where cars knocked over two runners, including him. Despite not suffering any serious injuries, Max managed to finish the race in 8:21.

In 1962, the race featured its first foreign entries when the Road Runners Club of England sent four of Britain’s best long-distance runners. One of the runners, John Smith, won the race in under six hours, missing the record by 33 seconds. In 1975, the race officially welcomed participants of all races, including women. Vincent Rakabele finished 20th to become the first black runner to officially win a medal. In 1989, Sam Tshabalala became the first black winner of the Comrades. In 1991, he sustained serious injuries in a motor accident. After a courageous battle, he made a successful comeback in 1992 by claiming a silver medal. In 2008, Dave Rogers broke the record for the most Comrades finishes by completing his 43rd race in a time of 11:09 at the age of 65. Clive Crawley (77), the first runner to win 42 medals, met him at the finishing line. Dave’s first race was in 1961, and he completed it in 10:13.

The race now lasts 12 hours, an extension from the previous 11 hours in 2003. The race established cut-off points along the route, which runners must reach by a prescribed time or face retirement. A runner who has successfully completed 9 marathons wears a yellow number, while those who have completed 10 races wear a green number, which is permanently allocated to the runner for all future races. Currently, medals are awarded in the following order:

The first 10 men and women receive Gold Medals.
Silver Medals – 6 hrs 00 min 01 sec to sub 7 hrs 30 min
Bronze Medals – 9 hrs 00 min to sub 11 hrs 00 min.
Wally Hayward Medals – 11th position to sub 6 hrs 00 min
Bill Rowan Medals – 7 hrs 30 min to sub 9 hrs 00 min
Vic Clapham Medals – 11 hrs 00 min to sub 12 hrs 00 min

Before 2000, only gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded. The Bill Rowan Medal made its debut in 2000. Bill had predicted that he would finish the first race in 9 hours. They added the Vic Clapham Medal in 2003 and the Wally Hayward Medal in 2007. Prize money made its debut in 1995.

The race took place on Republic Day, May 31, from 1962 to 1994. After the government removed this public holiday in 1995, the race was moved to Youth Day on 16 June. In 2007, the race organisers bowed to political pressure from the ANC Youth League and changed the race dates to June 17, 2007, and June 15, 2008. In 2009 and 2010, the race days were changed to 24 May and 30 May, respectively, to accommodate football’s Confederations Cup (2009) and the World Cup (2010) in South Africa. It now takes place on the Sunday closest to 31 May.

In 2009, Chris Mann, honorary professor of poetry at Rhodes University, wrote the following tribute:

In memoriam Victor Clapham

Well Vic, I wonder what you’d make of this,
I mean the flag-hung square, the jostling crowds,
a helicopter clattering through the dark,
runners in their thousands, massed down the street,
and someone famous being interviewed
in a bright white glare on the steps of City Hall.

I wish you could be here, right here with us,
dressed in your baggy shorts and tennis shoes,
smelling the wintergreen, the nervous sweat
and feeling strange pricklings in your skin
as speakers boom the anthem down the street
that lifts the day from normal into epic time.

Look at the scaffolding, the tents, the bins,
the marshals with clipboards and yellow bibs.
They do this for nothing, year after year.
It’s a bit like a local Olympics now,
all sorts of money-scheming hangers-on
but still, somehow, decency on a podium.

Isn’t it much, much bigger than you thought?
At times I’ve wondered what was in your mind
when back home from the war to end all wars
you’d sit in the hot steel cab of your train
swabbing your neck and chest with cotton waste
and slowly swigging a bottle of cold sweet tea.

Tell me, didn’t it churn you up inside?
watching each day across the shunting yard
the salesmen on the platform in white shirts,
the women in high-heels and fancy hats
saying goodbye with a kiss and a wave
as if their dads and uncles hadn’t died at all?

Didn’t you really hate it when young blokes
with slicked-back hair in the Railways Hotel
would turn away from you, beer-mug in hand,
and switch the talk to Saturday’s races
the moment you even mentioned the war
and passing round the hat for a memorial?

That must have got to you, as if your pals
who’d marched their youth along the street
in row on row of boots and bayonets,
on their way north to mud and death in France,
weren’t even worth a few words in a bar.
Is that why you dreamed us into this marathon?

Well Vic, each year, out of that dream emerge
not just the rugby types you started with,
that group of balding friends in boxing vests
trotting off down a farm road with a laugh,
but men and women of all sorts and shapes,
the black, the blonde, the bronze of our humanity.

Does hope, a marathon of hope like this,
you make me ask, remind the heart of grace?
Look, Vic, at what you got going with pride,
a huge, jostling ritual of human decency
whose athletes set off down a cheering street
then toil across the landscape of South Africa.