A film celebrating 100 years of the Comrades Marathon will premiere on SuperSport on 26 May.
‘Down, A Comrades Story’ uses the 2022 Down Run to bind together a century of epic races and a sequence of remarkable stories.
Seeking to discover just why people put themselves through such extremes, running 90 kilometres from sunrise to sunset, the filmmakers travel with over 13 000 runners as they make their way from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. Along the way they discover uplifting stories, folklore, history and tradition.
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Extraordinarily, there’s footage from the 1920s, which lends both charm and curiosity to the film.
Helpfully, Gareth Whittaker and Jack Davis, the executive producers, have both run Comrades several times, giving them a unique perspective on this South African institution.
“The story of Comrades is the story of South Africa. Beautiful, bloody hard and full to the brim of our unique and special soul,” said Whittaker. “What a privilege it is to play a part in telling a little of the story of the greatest foot race on earth.”
