The Comrades Marathon Association has almost doubled its prize purse to R4.31m, it said in a statement on Saturday.
The men’s and women’s winners of the June 11 ultra-marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban will pocket R500,000, up from R260,000, the runners-up will be paid R250,000 and the 10th-placed finishers will get R20,000.
The CMA said the move demonstrated its commitment to “restore the prize money back to the levels before the Covid-19 pandemic”.
A R500,000 bonus would also be paid to anyone breaking the Down Run best times — David Gatebe’s 5 hr 18 min 19 sec and Frith van der Merwe’s 5:54:43 from 1989.
The first South African across the line would get R200,000 and the first runner from KwaZulu-Natal would be paid R60,000.
This year’s @ComradesRace prize purse will be a substantial R4.31-million, a 90% increase on last year's R2.27 mill.
— ComradesRace (@ComradesRace) April 29, 2023
Its nearly a doubling of 2022 1st prize from R260k to R500k with 2nd & 3rd overall showing similar increases; from R130k to R250k for 2nd & R90k to R180k for 3rd. pic.twitter.com/0xZVfdOpn1
The first 10 men and women would also be awarded with one-ounce gold medals which, valued at around R38,000, is higher than the prize money for places seven to 10.
“All other age category and team prizes have been increased by similar 90% margins,” CMA said in the statement.
Top-10 prize money:
First place: R500,000
2nd: R250,000
3rd: R180,000
4th: R90,000
5th: R70,000
6th: R40,000
7th: R35,000
8th: R30,000
9th: R25,000
10th: R20,000
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