The Comrades Marathon
After the war ended, Clapham wanted to establish a memorial to the suffering and deaths of his comrades during the war, and their camaraderie in overcoming these hardships. He conceived of an extremely demanding race where the physical endurance of entrants could be put to the test.
Clapham asked for permission to stage a 56 mile race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban under the name of the Comrades Marathon, and for it to become a living memorial to the spirit of the soldiers of the Great War.
Permission was at first refused but was eventually granted. The first Comrades Marathon took place on 24 May 1921, Empire Day, starting outside the City Hall in Pietermaritzburg with 34 runners. It has been run every year since then, except for the years 1941-1945 during the Second World War.
The constitution of the race today states that one of its primary aims is to "celebrate mankind's spirit over adversity".
Copper medals - known as the Vic Clapham medal - go to those athletes who finish the race between 11 and 12 hours.
Read more about this topic: Vic Clapham
Famous quotes containing the words comrades and/or marathon:
“Two well-assorted travellers use
The highway, Eros and the muse.
From the twins is nothing hidden,
To the pair is naught forbidden;
Hand in hand the comrades go
Every nook of nature through:
Each for the other they were born,
Each can other best adorn.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The mountains look on Marathon—
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dreamed that Greece might still be free;
For standing on the Persians’ grave,
I could not deem myself a slave.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)