ComradesIrene Athletics Club has been well represented at the Comrades Marathon since 1999, and in 2004 we managed to become the third biggest club in terms of entries. In 2015 we had an astounding 340 Irene members entering for Comrades. We have been either the third or second biggest club ever since 2004 and still dreaming of that ever elusive number one spot. Obviously we take our participation and performance serious at Comrades and will be striving to improve with every coming year.
One thing we aspire to at Irene is to help make Comrades a very special and unforgettable experience for each and every one of our participating members. Thanks to Channel Ink (our main Comrades sponsor this years), we will be able to provide each Comrades runner with something really special as part of our goody bag this year. We really pride ourselves on the quality of our Comrades goody bags and we hand them out during our well organised Comrades pre-function event the week before the big race. The Comrades pre-function is an extraordinary event that we hold in celebration and honour of all our Irene Comrades runners. A motivational speaker (in the past we've had Bruce Fordyce) is part of the activities and the whole day is really just an awesome build up to the world's oldest and largest ultra marathon, Comrades. And then on race day, you will find Irene supporters everywhere, but we also have explicit support stations on both the route and at the finish for all of our members. |
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Comrades Training
At Irene we are blessed with many very talented and experienced Comrades veterans. One of them being our very own, Linley September.
Coach September will be heading the Comrades training for 2018 and we will be posting his training programmes and expert advice on a regular basis under the Training section of this website.
Coach September will be heading the Comrades training for 2018 and we will be posting his training programmes and expert advice on a regular basis under the Training section of this website.
Our history at Comrades
| 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
| Entries | 69 | 181 | 112 | 127 | 178 | 169 | 227 | 180 | 178 | 151 | 162 | 316 | 264 | 246 | 229 | 275 |
| Starters | 65 | 170 | 103 | 116 | 164 | 154 | 213 | 162 | 166 | 143 | 140 | 289 | 215 | 217 | 183 | 185 |
| % Starters | 94.2% | 93.9% | 92.0% | 91.3% | 92.1% | 91.1% | 93.8% | 90.0% | 93.3% | 94.7% | 86.4% | 91.5% | 81.4% | 88.2% | 79.9% | 67.3% |
| Finishers | 60 | 148 | 78 | 95 | 149 | 141 | 194 | 149 | 156 | 123 | 119 | 243 | 181 | 189 | 128 | 147 |
| %Finishers | 92.3% | 87.1% | 75.7% | 81.9% | 90.9% | 91.6% | 91.1% | 92.0% | 94.0% | 86.0% | 85.0% | 84.1% | 84.2% | 87.1% | 69.9% | 79.5% |
| Silvers | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Bill Rowan | 0 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 22 | 21 | 24 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 15 | 28 | 18 | 17 | 3 | 12 |
| Bronze | 57 | 138 | 65 | 82 | 78 | 70 | 107 | 90 | 92 | 69 | 53 | 119 | 94 | 85 | 55 | 74 |
| Vic Clapham | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 46 | 59 | 44 | 47 | 41 | 48 | 93 | 67 | 84 | 68 | 58 |
Useful Downloads
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A very useful Comrades pace calculator that is based on the Comrades route profile and topography. Designed and developed by our very own Dirk Cloete. Simply enter your required finish time and the calculator will do the rest.
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A Comrades finishing time prediction calculator that is based on an athlete's total distance and best times on specific events for the 5 month period leading up to Comrades.
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Insightful document on pre-event, during event and post-event nutrition for long distance running events; marathons and longer.
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