If Comrades feels longer than usual this year ...

Runners who are participating in this year's Comrades Marathon will have to take an extra 1000 strides before they cross the finish line ahead of the famous finisher's gun.

Today's race will be 877m longer than the previous "up run", in 2013.

The official distance for this year's race, from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, is 87.72km - the longest in 40 years.

According to race director Rowyn James, the extra distance is because of roadworks along Josiah Gumede Road in Pinetown, which meant that organisers had to re-route runners off the road and onto various side roads.

"This is one of the longest races in recent history," said James. The longest race was the down run in 1982, at 91.4km.

James said that the extra few hundred metres, which were announced to athletes in January, would not really make a massive difference to those at the front and middle sections of the race.

But those planning on finishing close to the 12-hour cut-off time could have their hopes of claiming a medal dashed.

"Let's call it an extra kilometre to make it easier. Those runners [at the back] will take about 12 minutes to 15 minutes to finish a kilometre.

"So if they were going to come in on the 12-hour mark, they will actually have to make up as much as 15 minutes on the road.

"The 877m does become a factor," said James.

At the front end, the extra length will make it difficult for the top runners to break any of the up-run records - a factor that could also result in them missing out on financial rewards.

A R1.5-million "incentive" has been offered to any man or woman who beats the up-run record in their respective category.

In 2008, Russian Leonid Shvetsov ran the route in a record time of five hours, 24 minutes and 49 seconds.

Two years earlier, his compatriot Elena Nurgalieva ran the best-ever woman's up run of six hours, nine minutes and 23 seconds.

The 2008 race was exactly 87km, and 2006 was 87.5km.

According to James, the extra distance will make it a bit more challenging for the top runners to bag the large cash prize.

At the pace that those elite athletes run, they are going to have to shave an additional three minutes off their finishing times to cross the line and beat Shvetsov and Nurgalieva's records.

"But the runners have all taken the extra distance in their strides," James said.