Comrades debunks false claims of deaths in 2025 marathon
The team did attend to several cases of extreme exhaustion.
Picture: Th G/Pixabay
702’s Bongani Bingwa speaks with Comrades Marathon race doctor Dr Jeremy Boulter.
Listen below:
The Comrades Marathon Association has refuted claims of two deaths during the 2025 race.
Boulter confirms that no deaths have been recorded and that it is “false reporting.”
The team did attend to several cases of extreme exhaustion, or bonking.
Due to the extreme nature of the race, some runners can be left feeling fatigued, dizzy, confused and disorientated.
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“A person [who finishes the Comrades] is going to be a in a state of fatigue, no matter how easy they found the run that year… bonking is common, a large number of the patients we treat are simply exhausted.”
– Dr Jeremy Boulter, Race Doctor – Comrades
He adds that in cases where a death was reported in the past, it was likely due to an underlying condition that a runner may not even have been aware of.
“A sudden death in an apparently well runner is usually due to some underlying problem.”
– Dr Jeremy Boulter, Race Doctor – Comrades
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Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the discussion.