Comrades Marathon Pace & Medal Calculator

Work out the pace for any Comrades medal, set a goal time, or estimate your 2026 Up Run finish from a recent race.

Comrades Marathon 2026

Pace & Medal Calculator

Work out the pace you need for any Comrades medal, set a goal time, or estimate your finish from a recent race. Built for the 2026 Up Run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg.

📅 Sun 14 June 2026 ⛰️ Up Run, about 87 km ⏳ …

What pace earns each medal?

Every Comrades medal has a finishing time cut-off. Here is the average pace you need to hold over the full 87 km to earn each one. Type a finish time below to see which medal it lands.

Try a finish time (h:mm)

Just type the numbers like 930, the colon is added for you. Leave blank to read the chart.

Medal	Finish under	Average pace

Gold medals go to the first 10 men and first 10 women across the line, so they are about racing position, not a fixed time. The hard cut-off is 12 hours. Cross the line after that and the race is not recorded, so Vic Clapham runners chase every minute.

Women also have the Isavel Roche-Kelly medal, awarded to women who finish outside the top 10 but under 7 hours. The cut-off was tightened from 7:30 to 7:00 in 2024. Women can still earn Wally Hayward (sub 6:00) and Silver (sub 7:30) on the same times as men, so the chart above shows the time-based medals that apply to everyone.

Plan your goal pace

Pick a medal or type your own goal time. We work out the average pace you need and a halfway target, so you know what to hold from the start.

Goal finish time (h:mm)

Just type the numbers like 845, the colon is added for you.

Estimate your Comrades finish

Enter a recent race result and we project a likely finishing range for the 87 km Up Run, plus the medal it points to. It is a guide, the hills, the heat and your training on the day all move the number.

Recent race

Your time (h:mm:ss)

Just type the numbers like 35500, the colons are added for you.

What was that race like?

Comrades is a long climb, so a flat race flatters your time, and a hilly one counts for more.

How the estimate works. We use the Riegel endurance formula, time scales with distance raised to a fatigue power, with the exponent nudged up for ultras to reflect how much slower you run as the kilometres pile on. The range comes from running that formula at two fatigue settings, so a faster, well-trained runner sits near the low end and a tougher day near the high end. Because the formula only looks at distance, we let you flag the terrain of that recent race and shade the projection: a flat, fast course flatters your time against Comrades' climbs, while a hilly race or a past ultra already proves the hill legs. It assumes solid Comrades-specific training, the hills and heat still have the final say.

Race facts. 2026 was the 99th Comrades and the 50th Up Run. Both Up Run records fell at the 2026 race on 14 June: George Kusche won the men's race in 5:15:56, ending Leonid Shvetsov's 18 year old record of 5:24:49 from 2008, and Gerda Steyn took her fifth title and a new women's record of 5:44:53, beating her own 5:49:46 from 2024. Hats off to both. Medal times are fixed by the Comrades Marathon Association and rarely change. The exact race distance is confirmed once the route is officially measured, so paces here use the official approximate 87 km. The medal cut-offs and pacing maths stay the same year to year, so the calculator is still good to use, and we will review and update it for the 2027 Comrades once the new race date, direction and distance are confirmed.

💬 Discuss this tool, or share your goal for race day, on the forum →

How the Comrades medals work

The Comrades Marathon is one of the world's oldest and largest ultramarathons, run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal since 1921. The direction alternates each year, and 2026 was an Up Run, the harder uphill direction, finishing in Pietermaritzburg. Beyond simply finishing, most runners chase a medal, and each medal has a strict finishing time. Knowing the pace each one needs, and pacing the early hills sensibly, is the difference between a medal you are proud of and a long walk to the cut-off.

Frequently asked questions

What are the Comrades Marathon medals and their cut-off times?

Comrades awards its medals by finishing time and position. Gold goes to the first 10 men and first 10 women. The Wally Hayward medal is for runners who finish under 6 hours without placing in the top 10. Women who finish under 7 hours outside the top 10 earn the women-only Isavel Roche-Kelly medal, a cut-off tightened from 7 hours 30 to 7 hours in 2024. Silver is under 7 hours 30, Bill Rowan is under 9 hours, Robert Mtshali is under 10 hours, Bronze is under 11 hours, and Vic Clapham is under 12 hours. The hard cut-off is 12 hours, and anyone who crosses the line after that is not an official finisher.

What pace do I need for a Comrades medal?

Over the roughly 87 km of the Up Run you need to average about 4:08 per km for a Wally Hayward, 5:10 for a Silver, 6:12 for a Bill Rowan, 6:54 for a Robert Mtshali, 7:35 for a Bronze and 8:17 per km for a Vic Clapham. The calculator works these out for any goal time you enter and gives you a halfway target as well, so you know the pace to hold from the start.

How accurate is the finish time prediction?

The predictor takes a recent race result and scales it up to 87 km using a standard endurance formula, then widens the answer into a range to allow for the extra fatigue of an ultra. It is a planning guide, not a promise. Your real finish depends on hill training, the heat on the day, your fuelling and how evenly you pace the race, so treat the range as a sensible target band rather than an exact number.

Was the 2026 Comrades an Up Run or a Down Run?

The 2026 Comrades Marathon was an Up Run, starting in Durban and finishing in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday 14 June 2026. It was the 99th edition and the 50th time the race ran up to Pietermaritzburg. The Up Run climbs steadily over the first half, so most runners plan to bank a little time early before the late hills bite.

How should I pace the Comrades Up Run?

A common approach is to aim for even effort rather than even pace, which on an Up Run usually means passing halfway, near 43.5 km, a few minutes ahead of an even split. The calculator gives you both the average pace for your goal and a halfway target with a small buffer built in, so you start at a pace you can hold all the way to Pietermaritzburg.

Looking for more? Browse all our free South African tools and calculators, including live SA sports fixtures.

Sources: Comrades Marathon Association official 2026 race launch and the official medal list. Medal times and the 12 hour cut-off are set by the CMA. The exact race distance is confirmed once the route is officially measured. This page is a planning guide, not official race information. Last reviewed June 2026.