New tool: a Comrades Marathon pace and medal calculator for 2026

Sport
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With Comrades just over a week away, I put together a free pace and medal calculator for the 2026 Up Run.

Three things it does:

Medal pace chart. It shows the average pace per km you need for every medal, from Vic Clapham all the way up to Wally Hayward, and you can type in a finish time to see exactly which medal it lands.

Goal time. Pick a medal or enter your own goal, and it gives you the pace to hold plus a halfway target at 43.5 km, with a small buffer built in for the late hills on the Up Run.

Predict my finish. Pop in a recent race, a marathon, a half, even a 10k, and it estimates your Comrades finishing range and the medal it points to. It is a planning guide rather than a promise, so it gives you a sensible range instead of a single number.

It is built around the official medal cut-offs and the 12 hour limit, and it works on your phone.

Have a look here: Comrades Marathon Pace & Medal Calculator

If you are running this year, what medal are you chasing? And shout if you spot anything you would like added.

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Ag Iā€™m not a runner myself, give me a bakkie before two legs, but my neighbours son is doing the Up Run this year so I will send him this. Looks lekker handy. The medal pace chart is the clever part, a man needs to know what he is actually chasing before he starts, same as planning a long day in the veld. No use going out too hard early then walking the last stretch. Good that you made it free, dis mos how it should be. People must just train proper and use common sense on the day.

2 Likes
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I did Comrades twice in the late eighties, both times with no idea what pace I needed to hold. Finished, but suffered badly for it. If something like this existed back then I would have run smarter and saved myself a week of walking like a penguin afterwards. Good tool.