What this year’s Comrades Marathon entrants do for a living, plus the most common surnames

The beauty about sport is that it brings people together from all walks of life. Road running is one such code that pits anyone from a gardener to a police officer to a musician – and the Comrades Marathon today has them all.

Herewith some of the occupations of the entrants as per the data provided by the race office ahead of the 83.83km “up run” from Durban to Pietermaritzburg:

Manager – 2 436

Self–Employed – 1 416

Accountant / Auditor – 1 386

Engineers – 1 270

Information Technology – 1 207

Unemployed – 551

Policeman – 536

Doctor / Specialist – 436

Salesperson – 422

Security officer – 306

Electrician – 285

Retired – 241

Student – 212

Housewife – 198

Gardener – 176

Secretary – 171

Farmer – 161

Military – 160

Scientist – 152

Lecturer – 136

Miner – 132

Musician – 16

Politician – 13

Taxi Driver – 11

TV Personality – 8

Judge – 7

From the 119 registered Dlaminis to the 40 Ngubanes, the most common surnames are:

Ndlovu – 118

Khumalo – 88

Mthembu – 78

Mkhize – 77

Nkosi – 73

Ngcobo – 71

Smith – 64

Sithole – 62

Mahlangu – 58

Mokoena; Naidoo – both 56

Du Plessis; Botha – both 54

Zulu – 53

Mhlongo – 52

Cele – 51

Nxumalo; Williams; Venter – all 50

Gumede; Ntuli – both 49

Radebe – 48

Ngwenya – 45

Du Toit – 43

Dube – 43

Sibiya – 42

Smit – 41

Tshabalala – 40

Ngubane – 40