Comrades historian dies

Cape Town - Comrades Marathon historian and honorary life member, Morris Alexander, has died at age 94.

The Durban resident completed seven races out of 10 Comrades starts and won three gold medals for placing fourth, fifth and sixth between 1939 and 1952.

Alexander was passionate about Comrades and led the organising team from 1950 to 1956.

He was a key figure in ensuring the resurrection of the ultra-marathon after the break during the war years, which saw four events cancelled.

In 1960, Alexander produced the first of three editions of "The Comrades Marathon Story".

His work was universally acclaimed as a definitive and passionate history of the race and had its final update published in 1985.

In 1990, he became the first living person to be awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Comrades Marathon Association.

The seasoned voyager had recently returned from Thailand when he passed away peacefully on October 23 in an retirement village in Century City, Cape Town, where he lived with his wife Huibrecht.

He had three children, two daughters Merle and Francis and a son Keith, who passed away a decade ago.