The forgotten heroes of the world-famous Comrades Marathon will be remembered by the organisation this year.
They include hundreds of black runners, who were barred by the laws of the country during the time of apartheid, and hundreds of women who were denied the opportunity of competing with men by the athletics governing bodies of the time.
This year will be the 80th anniversary of the Comrades Marathon, and the world-famous ultra-marathon will be run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on June 16. The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) has organised a host of festivities around the event.
The CMA has announced that one of the hundreds of ”forgotten comrades” to be honoured is Robert Mtshali, who was the first black runner to finish the gruelling ultra-marathon in 1935.
Acting CMA CEO Cheryl Winn said a civic reception in the form of a ”street party” outside the CMA offices in Pietermaritzburg on June 10 will be hosted by the City of Pietermaritzburg.
”We are going to honour all those who missed out. Seventy years have passed since Mtshali became the first black man to complete the Comrades Marathon unofficially in 1935.
”We have commissioned a bronze memorial to commemorate his run, which will permanently occupy pride of place at the entrance of our Comrades museum,” said Winn.
”The mayor of Pietermaritzburg will unveil the Robert Mtshali bronze memorial and in effect officially open the forgotten-comrades exhibition in the Comrades Marathon Museum.
”The forgotten-comrades exhibition focuses on the men and women who ran the race unofficially prior to 1975, when it was opened to both sexes and all races.” — Sapa