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Senior Sports Reporter
THREE-TIME Comrades Marathon winner Stephen Muzhingi will have another go at the world’s oldest and biggest ultra marathon that takes place in South Africa on Sunday.Another prominent Zimbabwean, Prodigal Khumalo, who came ninth in the 2014 edition, will also take part in the 90th edition of the gruelling race that by yesterday had 22,369 confirmed entries from across the globe, with most of them coming from the host country South Africa.

The race takes place between the South African coastal city of Durban and Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal province.

The marathon was first staged in 1921 and on Sunday the start gun will be fired in Durban with the race ending 12 hours later at the Oval Cricket Stadium in Pietermaritzburg.

Muzhingi personalised the Comrades Marathon when he won three consecutive races from 2009 to 2011 but he found the going tough last year when he came fourth in a time of 5 hours, 35 minutes 18 seconds. Khumalo clocked 5 hours, 39 minutes 36 seconds.

Writing on his official Facebook timeline, Muzhingi said: “I will try and make everyone happy, I will work extra hard.”

Other Zimbabweans who have registered for the event are Keith Webster, Sally-Anne Wentzel, Angela Miller, Shepherd Maziri, Chasara Masiyatswa, Mayellin Barnes, Ephraim Kambambara, Charles Soza, Makhosi Mhlophe and Robert Forfar.

Organisers of the race have confirmed that the distance this year is 87.72km.

Road works linked to the Go Durban Integrated Rapid Transport Network have seen a slight deviation from the normal route through the small town of Pinetown just outside KZN’s largest city. An additional 877 metres have been added to the route, making it one of the longer “up turns” in the race’s recent history.

The new cut-off is at the base of Cowies Hill, which is at the corner of Josiah Gumede Road and the Otto Volek Road intersection in Pietermaritzburg.