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INLSA<\/p>\n
Brazilian runner Francisco Porto may not be a contender for the top prize, but anyone can dream. Picture: GCINA NDWALANE<\/p>\n
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Related Stories<\/p>\n
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Durban \u2013 The Comrades Marathon will be bigger, safer, busier and 97m shorter this year with the race organisers promising Sunday will go off without a hitch. <\/p>\n
\u201cComrades is on us again and we are well prepared,\u201d said race director Johan van Staden at Thursday\u2019s penultimate pre-race briefing. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are lifting the bar and supplying the runners with everything they will need from start to finish.\u201d <\/p>\n
The question on most journalists\u2019 lips was whether the increase in safety measures was a direct result of the Boston Marathon bombing earlier in the year\u2026 a question which was not answered with a yes or no. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have stepped up our security in all aspects,\u201d said Van Staden. <\/p>\n
He said this was, in part, a result of \u201ca lot of questions\u201d they had received from the media after the tragic event in the US in April. <\/p>\n
This year\u2019s 88th race would see 352 police and road traffic officials along the course, four bomb sweeping vehicles, and police sniffer dogs at the start and finishing areas. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the intelligence the SAPS have received, there is absolutely no threat to the race,\u201d said Van Staden. <\/p>\n
With the safety of the race seemingly guaranteed, the attention shifted to the drug testing facilities and whether or not a repeat of the Ludwick Mamabolo saga was a possibility. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis year all (testing chaperone) volunteers will be fully accredited by the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport,\u201d said Comrades general manager Gary Boshoff. <\/p>\n
The 24 drug testing chaperones, some of whom were identified and suggested by the marathon association, had undergone extensive training, and the institute had guaranteed that all protocol would be observed to ensure no irregularities could crop up during testing this year. <\/p>\n
Chief medic Jeremy Boulter was also on hand to outline the health services that would be available to tired and ailing runners. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have 90 doctors volunteering their medical services and more than 300 physiotherapists working at nine medical stations along the route,\u201d said Boulter. <\/p>\n
Nurses, emergency medical staff and trauma staff from Netcare 911 would provide their assistance on race day, too. <\/p>\n
The 2013 course, 86.96km, was 97m shorter than the usual up run, said Van Staden, and was a \u201csmall change\u201d which would allow those who just failed to finish last year a chance to finish the race. <\/p>\n
The back markers will have to contend with sunny and warm conditions on Sunday, with Durban and Pietermaritzburg forecasting 30\u00baC and 28\u00baC with no cloud cover respectively. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is going to be hot. Take in a little bit more fluid than usual, but not in excess,\u201d said Boulter. <\/p>\n
\u201cProfessor (Tim) Noakes says drink to thirst, which is probably the best advice. A rough figure would be 500ml per hour, depending on the individual.\u201d <\/p>\n
Boulter said 30km\/h winds were expected along the route, which would dry runners off and contribute to possible dehydration. <\/p>\n
There are 19 722 runners who have entered this year\u2019s race, up from 19 524 last <\/p>\n
year. \u2013 The Mercury <\/p>\n
ROAD CLOSURES<\/strong> <\/p>\n Samora Machel Street (Aliwal Street) between Monty Naicker (Pine) Street and Anton Lembede (Smith) Street midnight \u2013 7am <\/p>\n 45th Cutting 4am \u2013 7.30am <\/p>\n Cowie\u2019s Hill 4.30am \u2013 8.30am <\/p>\n Field\u2019s Hill 4.45am \u2013 9.15am <\/p>\n Kloof 5am \u2013 10am <\/p>\n Hillcrest 5.30am \u2013 11am <\/p>\n Botha\u2019s Hill 5.40am \u2013 11.30am <\/p>\n Drummond 6am \u2013 12.30pm <\/p>\n Cato Ridge 7am \u2013 2pm <\/p>\n Camperdown 7.30am \u2013 2.30pm <\/p>\n Umlaas Road 8am \u2013 3.55pm <\/p>\n Lion Park 9am \u2013 4pm <\/p>\n Ashburton 9am \u2013 5pm <\/p>\n Polly Shortts 9am \u2013 6pm <\/p>\n Pietermaritzburg:<\/strong> CB Downes, Washington, Oribi and Jesmond roads 9am \u2013 6.30pm <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" INLSA Brazilian runner Francisco Porto may not be a contender for the top prize, but anyone can dream. Picture: GCINA NDWALANE Related Stories No security threat to Comrades Budd pulls out of Comrades Comrades only half the race for trio Muzhingi eyes \u2018up run\u2019 double Colleagues to run in Mbuli\u2019s honour Ludwick: Runners not educated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-20074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}