The other competition at Comrades: The war of the running shoes

On Sunday 14 June, when 21 633 qualified athletes line up for the 99th edition of the Comrades Marathon, all eyes will be on the top contenders. But at ALL THAT, we are also deeply interested in what’s on their feet. Beyond the raw grit, the 87km Up Run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg is an absolute war of the running shoes. Here are the brands to look out for.

As the crisp morning air settles over the starting line, thousands of nervous voices unite to sing the powerful, spine-chilling chords of Shosholoza. It is a defining moment where human spirit meets raw asphalt. When the starting gun fires, all eyes instantly lock onto the elite athletes surging to the front of the pack.

But just beneath the gaze of the spectators, a silent, multi-million-rand battle is already in mid-stride. We are talking about the other competition at Comrades – the one happening right on the feet of the runners. To truly understand this corporate tug-of-war, we look to the work of independent running analyst Stuart Mann, who meticulously tracks the technology pushing thousands of human engines down the road.

All of the fascinating insights and deep-dive statistics detailed below come straight from Stuart Mann’s dedicated platform, The Running Mann (runningmann.co.za). By aligning official Comrades Marathon Association registration inputs with final finish-line timing mats, Mann strips away corporate marketing spin to reveal exactly what South Africa’s largest field of ultra-marathoners chose to wear – specifically tracking the definitive data and shoe census compiled from the 2025 field – and how those choices translated into actual performance on the road.

The Big Four at the 2025 Comrades

Looking closely at the mass-field data from the 2025 race, a striking trend emerges: over 80% of all finishers crossed the line relying on just four major global brands.

• Asics (about 33%): Comfortably wore the crown as the ultimate 2025 market leader, capturing roughly one in every three runners on the field. It heavily dominated the mid-to-back pack, older veterans, and Master runners.
• Adidas (about 22%): The fastest-growing brand on the 2025 Comrades field, showing the most aggressive year-on-year growth by doubling its footprint within a three-year window. It boasted an exceptional 90,2% finish success rate.
• Nike (about 13%): Utterly dominant in the elite brackets, though slipping slightly in total 2025 mass-field volume.
• New Balance (about 11%): A stable, highly trusted brand whose presence increased substantially among late-afternoon finishers in the 2025 data.

The Top 10 vs. The Bill Rowans

For product testers, the data reveals a classic self-selection bias. The footwear landscape shifts dramatically depending on where you look in the field.

In the elite Top 10 men and women brackets, choice is heavily governed by lucrative corporate sponsorship contracts. The men’s podium is virtually a monopoly between Nike and Adidas, driven by heavy-hitting elite club structures like the Nedbank Running Club and Hollywoodbets Athletics Club.

However, the elite women’s Top 10 displays a refreshing layer of diversity. With fewer elite women bound to restrictive, all-inclusive club gear mandates, they enjoy more individual freedom to choose shoes based on personal comfort and biomechanical efficiency. Consequently, brands like Saucony, New Balance, and Hoka feature far more prominently on the elite women’s leaderboard.

Further down the field, among the “Bill Rowan” (sub-9 hour) and Bronze medal contenders, the narrative flips from raw speed to structural survival. While the front pack flies on aggressive, carbon-plated super shoes, the everyday heroes out on the road for 9 to 11 hours turn to deep cushioning and stability. This creates an interesting data paradox: brands like Brooks and Saucony show slower average finishing times (Brooks averaging 10h46) not because the shoes are slow, but because heavier runners and those prioritising maximum impact-protection naturally gravitate toward their ultra-plush, supportive frames.

What happened to MRP Sport Maxed?

A few years ago, Mr Price Sport pulled off one of the most brilliant disruptions in athletic history. By sponsoring a localised development team of elite running powerhouses (including legendary champions like David Gatebe and Gift Kelehe) they placed the budget-friendly Maxed Marathon Racer squarely onto the gold medal podium. For a long time, the Maxed Running Team proved that a runner’s engine mattered far more than a premium price tag, racking up dozens of gold medals.

So, why did they disappear from the top ten? The shift comes down to a corporate arms race. The rapid professionalisation of South African running clubs saw corporate giants offer full salaries and performance retainers that a budget retail brand simply could not match. As these elite development athletes signed with major clubs, they were required to adopt global footwear contracts with Nike and Adidas.

Instead of sinking massive capital into competing with global carbon-fiber research and development, Mr Price Sport intelligently shifted its strategy. They became the Official Technical Sports Apparel Partner of the Comrades Marathon. They moved their focus away from a tiny handful of podium hunters to instead supply the official race T-shirts and commercial technical gear to the remaining 99% of the field.

Which shoes will dominate at Comrades 2026?

What can we expect to dominate the roads moving forward? To chase down records, elite athletes will continue to lean heavily into premium flagship super shoes, with the Nike Alphafly Next% and the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro series expected to command the absolute front-row real estate.

But the real volume story – the shoe that keeps the lights on for the industry – belongs to the workhorses. As thousands of mass-field participants take on the brutal journey, expect the absolute dominance of Asics to hold firm. The legendary Asics Gel-Nimbus (now moving strong through its late twenties iterations) will remain the ultimate neutral mattress for knee protection, while its stable counterpart, the Gel-Kayano, and the highly dependable GT-2000 series will act as the structural insurance policies carrying everyday athletes over the final, punishing hills.

Data Source & Reference: For the full, comprehensive year-by-year shoe census and analytical spreadsheets, read the original deep dive published by Stuart Mann on his blog here: The Running Mann — Comrades Shoe Stats