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The 99th Annual Comrades Marathon: Reflection and Results

By: Dylan Naidoo


The 14th of June brought some fantastic action at the 99th Annual Comrades Marathon this year boasting some fascinating statistics. For the first time ever, the annual comrades marathon was broadcasted throughout all major social media and digital platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and X, ensuring the sport to feature worldwide coverage. The results of this move were staggering, with an estimated 21.6 million views on race day alone, and 29 million views in race week. Statistics show that these major social media platforms recorded huge amounts of traffic, with around a million of views on each platform. Personally, I really feel the move was great. Being able to watch the comrade’s marathon on Sunday live on YouTube with family certainly felt like a treat. But without further ado, here are the results for this year’s comrade’s marathon!


Results

This year’s 99th comrades marathon men's winner was South African George Kusche, achieving an impressive 5h15m56s, four minutes ahead of second place. Kusche did an outstanding run, maintaining outstanding endurance and running with great determination. Crossing that finish line felt like something else, seeing an athlete of sheer willpower pushing to the very end had me gripped to the television screen.

“Thank you, South Africa. This race is special because of you. This race transformed my life, and I can only hope we continue to cherish it for future generations” says Kusche in a LinkedIn post. Coming second was Netherlands Piet Wiersma, who was followed by South African Mbuti Mollo, achieving an impressive third place result after setting the pace earlier in the race.


The 99th comrade’s marathon women’s winner this year was South African Gerda Steyn, pulling off an amazing 5h44m53s finishing time, around nine minutes ahead of second place. Commentators were in awe of Gerda’s constant smile throughout the race, a strong display of Gerda’s love of the sport. I, too, was in awe of her sheer endurance. “It was a dream race in many ways with great conditions, tough competition, and unbelievable amounts of support on the route!!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE, what a journey and what joy to share this with you all!!!!” says Gerda Steyn in an Instagram post. Second place was clocked in by Zimbabwean Nobukhosi Tshuma, who did a phenomenal run all the way. She was followed by South African Irvette van Zyle, who finished third.


Qualifiers and Finishers

With the transition to the ‘Up Run’, the comrades marathon this year saw a large turnout of runners, albeit smaller than last year. However, percentage states were better this year. Out of the 22,676 runners securing an entry this year, 95.62% of them qualified for the event. This is up from the 93.96% from last year and is recorded to be the highest percentage of qualified runners since 2010. Race starts were also up, with 93.96% of race starters this year, up from the 92.35% race starters last year. This means this race had the highest percentage of race starts since 2006.


In terms of finishers, out of the 20,349 runners who started the race, 89.81% of runners had completed the race just before the 12-hour cut off. This is up from last year's 86.88% finish rate. Novice participants' percentages are also up this year, despite the smaller number of starting runners, with 87.65% novice finishers this year, up from the 85.69% of finishers in 2025. This is an impressive number, and it is great to see many first-time runners complete the comrades marathon.


For the full comrades marathon statistics, you can access it through the following link: https://comrades.com/blogs/event-statistics-confirm-success-of-2026-comrades-marathon


We also got to see our very own videographer, Dan, complete the marathon. With a 10h29m11s time, we are very proud of Dan for completing the comrades marathon and commend his great effort!


Check out Dan’s results through the links below:



George Kusche & Gerda Steyn: This year's comrades winners
George Kusche & Gerda Steyn: This year's comrades winners | Image taken by Comrades Marathon

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