You thought it was an impossible feat running a marathon? Think again. There's a whole other category of ultra-races for those who are either superfit or super-foolish. Of them all, the oldest and possibly one of the most grueling is South Africa's Comrades' Marathon. This annual road race, run this year on 6 May 2011, covers an extraordinary 90 km (56 miles) between Durban, on the Kwazulu-Natal Coast and inland Pietermaritzburg.

It is raced in alternate directions each year.
On the journey inland, the runners climb from the coast to a high point of 870m above sea level before reaching Pietermaritzburg at 650m. Along the way, they have to run over five major hills. Along the way, they get through 350,000 sachets of Powerade, 1 ton of chocolate, 5.4 tons of bananas, and 750 tubes of Deep Heat - amongst other supplies! Every runner who completes the distance within 12 hours receives a medal. The first 10 men and 10 women all receive gold medals.

Records
There are separate records for men and women and for the Up and Down runs (depending on where the race starts and whether they are racing up or down hill).
The current course record was set on the down run in 2007 by Russian runner Leonid Shvetsov who ran the distance in an astonishing 5 hours, 20 minutes and 49 seconds. He also holds the up record. The women's record for the down run was set by South African runner Frith van der Merwe, way back in 1989, with a time of 5 hours, 54 minutes and 43 seconds.

No one else has yet come near.
South African runner, Bruce Fordyce, holds the record for the most number of wins, with a staggering nine titles. Russian Elena Nurgalieva is the top woman with five wins.
South African, Wally Hayward, who won race 5 times as a young man, continued to enter late in life, completing it with two minutes to spare at the age of 80 in 1989! He is the oldest man to complete the course.

History
It all began with a young British lad, Vic Clapham, who emigrated to South Africa, working as an ambulance man and engine driver during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) and joining the 8th South African Infantry during World War I. He did hugely long forced marches across East Africa and at the end of the war, he asked the League of Comrades of the Great War if he could stage the race as a memorial to his fallen comrades. After refusing for two years, the League finally relented and the first race was run on Empire Day, 24th May, 1921, starting in Pietermaritzburg. There were 34 runners and the race was won by Bill Rowan in a time of 8 hours and 59 minutes. Frances Hayward was the first woman to run, in 1923, although she was not allowed to enter officially. The first foreigners joined the race in 1962 when four British runners arrived. In 1975, the race was finally officially opened to all, allowing women and people of all races to take part.
Today, thousands of runners from around the world flock to Kwazulu-Natal to test their mettle. In 2010, the race achieved a Guiness World Record as the world's biggest ultra marathon when a staggering field of 23,568 started the race and 14,343 runners completed the race within the 12-hour cut-off time.

Competition from Cape Town
Cape Town now also has a ultra-marathon, the Two Oceans Marathon, traditionally raced on Easter Saturday. Its mountainous 56 km (35 mile) route starts in Newlands, threads through Fishhoek, over Chapmans Peak and Constantia Nek and finishes at the University of Cape Town. It is preceded by 10km and 20 km trail runs through the forests, various fun runs for adults and children and a hugely popular half-marathon for the less ambitious.