In celebration of the Comrades Marathon, the world’s largest and oldest ultra-marathon race, a Comrades Marathon Centenary Monopoly board game is set to be launched!
This is exciting as all Comrades Marathon enthusiasts can now be a part of the action as they play this ever-popular classic, fast-dealing property trading board game with their family and friends.
Orders are open on the following link: https://www.tixsa.co.za/.
The theme was thought out by Sportsvendo CEO and also a two-time gold medal winner, Leon Swanepoel, who has been involved in the sports industry for 30 years.
“As a Comrades Marathon runner, it struck me one day that the world-famous Comrades Marathon could be the perfect theme for a Monopoly board,” Swanepoel said.
Swanepoel noticed a few years ago that Monopoly began producing their popular board game with other existing brands and points of interest. “I was fascinated and immediately became a collector of Monopoly board games. There are over 1 000 different themed Monopoly board games, and this includes movies, artists, history, retailers and strong brands in general,” he said.
“Both the Comrades Marathon and the Monopoly board game include landmarks and after I [had] done some research, I discovered that no city marathon or road running race has ever been used for a Monopoly theme,” he explained.
A meeting with the Monopoly team followed in London, and Sportsvendo obtained the rights. The Comrades Marathon Centenary Monopoly board is designed in line with the traditional Monopoly board where the properties start with the less expensive and finish with the most expensive.
“As a Comrades Marathon enthusiast, I am so excited about this board game,” said Bruce Fordyce who holds the record of winning the Comrades Marathon nine times. Bruce challenged Swanepoel to a Monopoly game which Swanepoel accepted and said “this may be the only time to beat Bruce.”
“For everyone who has participated in the Comrades Marathon, this board will surely also awaken some memories and now everyone, even those who never participated, can experience it in a different way,” Swanepoel said.
The Comrades Marathon’s direction alternates each year between the Up Run, starting from Durban, and the Down Run starting from Pietermaritzburg. The Centenary year is celebrated in 2021 and it would have been a Down Run starting in Pietermaritzburg and finishing in Durban. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the 2021 run from taking place.
Monopoly board game lovers and Comrades Marathon enthusiasts can look forward to the following on the board game:
- Landmarks on the Down Run – in other words starting in Pietermaritzburg and finishing in Durban.
- Course records for the Down Run (men/women), as well as the fastest foreign runners on the Down Run (men/women) as the most expensive properties, were used. And, of course, Bruce Fordyce, for his nine wins, is also included.
- The two traditional tax locations have been replaced with two cut-off times on the Down Run – this is aligned with penalties.
- For the four traditional Travel Locations, four of the previous “Down” Run finish venue’s in Durban were used.
- For the two traditional Utility Properties, the Comrades Marathon House and the Comrades Marathon Wall of Honour were used. These two properties are referred to as “Comrades Marathon Visitor Sites”.
- The Chance and Community Chess cards/questions are branded as Down Run and Up Run, with appropriate “running” references.
Sportsvendo is the Events Company behind the well-known Colour Run Series and equally successful Warner Bros. Justice League Virtual Run Series. More than 1 000 sports events were already produced by Sportsvendo with some events also finalists of the Sport Industry Awards in various previous years.
Winning the Comrades Marathon is now within your reach with the Comrades Marathon Centenary Monopoly board game!
For more information, please visit www.marathonmonopoly.com and follow them on social media:
Facebook: ComradesMarathon | Sportsvendo | SportsvendoEventsHub
Instagram: comradesmarathon | sportsvendo | sportsvendoeventshub
Picture: Facebook / Comrades Marathon