Ultimate Comrades

Category: 4. History

  • 1922 Winner’s thoughts

    Arthur Newton Winner of the second Comrades race in 1922 Arthur Newton  commented after his win: “It isn’t my fault I won. If Phillips and Rowan hadn’t cut out at such a terrific pace at the start they would both have finished in front of me, because they are both better runners.” Isn’t that a…

  • stories of the streets

    Comrades Marathon riches The stories of the people of Comrades make Comrades as rich as it is. One of them is story of the youngest finisher. The Templeton’s, father and 16 year-old son L.H, entered and ran the second Comrades, 1922. Father gave up. The boy didn’t and was given a “silver pocket watch” for…

  • Camperdown

    Camperdown, KZN, early enough on the down Comrades run, in the tough zone of the Up, is named after the farm on which it is built; which was named after one of the Camperdowns in Scotland; which were named for a victory of the British Royal Navy under Admiral Robert Duncan, of Dundee, Scotland, over the Dutch…

  • Bob Lambert – RIP

    Bob Lambert – Life Member, Comrades Marathon and Beyond Comrades Marathon country is richly summer-green now. As is my memory of Bob Lambert. I knew him mostly as the father of Robin Lambert with whom I have shared a friendship since the first days of our high school. In those days, before TV and PC,…

  • More early stories

    As always my thesis: behind the numbers and the facts is the rich stories of the Comrades. Facts sourced from Morris Alexander’s The Comrades Story Father and Son What was the dinner-table discussion that led to the Templeton father and son running the 2nd Comrades Marathon together for much of the way? Son: You’re too…

  • Early history, early stories

    Always the name of the winner is inscribed big and bold: time, maybe age. But hardly ever, except for Alan Robb, is inscribed the colour of their socks, or as a poet asked, whether they dream of hunting tigers in red boots. Bill Rowan Who was Bill Rowan, winner of the first run in 1921?…

  • History – Origins

    There are lots of interesting accounts of the origins of the Comrades  in books and on the web, worth exploring. The basic facts are the same. But one idea is not given enough prominence. The idea behind,in, a hard but achievable run, was to recreate enough of the hardship that soldiers face to generate the…