comrades

The latest edition of the world's greatest ultra-marathon takes place on Sunday. Catch up on the history - along with some fascinating facts and anecdotes - of a race that's internationally recognised for the body-sapping challenge it poses and the camaraderie it fosters among its thousands of participants.

South African athletes won both the men's and the women's races in the 90th Comrades Marathon. Caroline Wostmann was the first female South African over the line in nearly two decades, crossing the line just 35 minutes after Rustenburg policeman Gift Kelehe won his first Comrades.

Apartheid pervaded every facet of life in South Africa, and sport was no different. Black sportsmen and women were unable to compete on an equal footing, and the sports boycott made the country a pariah state. But marathons offered an open road to all.

Private Myengwa Beleza, a South African who died on the battlefields of France almost a century ago, on Sunday became the first black soldier to be buried alongside 600 of his white compatriots at a South African World War I memorial in northern France.

The Comrades Marathon Association will be hosting about 200 delegates from around the world at the 20th World Congress of AIMS (the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races) in Durban this week.

South Africa hosts some of the world’s most gruelling endurance sports events, in which athletes put their physical and mental stamina to the ultimate test in their goal to make it to the finish line.
• Search on for top thrill-seekers

The 2009 Freedom Challenge, also known as the Race Across South Africa, started in Pietermaritzburg on Saturday. A courageous - some would say mad - field of 60 mountain bikers are tackling a 2 300-kilometre route that covers the full range of the country's spectacular terrain.

Zimbabwe's Stephen Muzhingi derailed Leonid Shvetsov's attempt at a third Comrades Marathon win in succession on Sunday, while the Nurgalieva twins continued their domination of the women's race as Olesya succeeded her sister Elena as champion.