The death of two Comrades runners last year could be a message from God that he was displeased with running the race on a Sunday, a Christian runner has suggested.

Hansie Louw, who until last month was the leader of the African Christian Democratic Party in the Western Cape, said in a statement at the weekend that he was asking all Christians to withdraw from the race to give a message to organisers.

"Last year two athletes died during or after Comrades. Was this a message from above? How many athletes will run with this type of threat?" he said.

Louw, emphasising that his was not a party position, said that two years ago he called for a boycott of the marathon when it was announced that the race would move to a Sunday.

Last year he did not run the race, but this year he entered hoping he could run the race on a Monday, 16 June.

"The Comrades Marathon Association has now announce[d] dates for future races as well — all on a Sunday!

"So from me and many other Christians, it is now a final farewell.

"On June 16 I will run the Comrades distance in Cape Town and will enjoy and celebrate Youth Day with my Christian friends.

"May Comrades soon be dead and buried! Christ will live forever."

Asked whether he really thought God would resort to such drastic measures as killing runners to get his message across, Louw told Sapa: "It's difficult to understand [or to] interpret that in that way, but it's also not impossible.

"There's no definite association to that, which is why I put it as a question."

The runners who died last year were Michael Gordon, a Gauteng 34-year-old who passed away after suffering a suspected heart attack just before the finish line in his first Comrades and Willem Malapi (48) from Worcester, who went into cardiac arrest after an electrolyte imbalance.

Athletics South Africa announced in 2006 that the race would no longer be run on 16 June, Youth Day, moving instead for the next three years to the closest Sunday to that date.

The decision to shift the date followed a fierce debate about the appropriateness of staging an event of the magnitude of the Comrades on June 16, one of what ASA said was the most "significant and sanctified" days in South Africa's history.

It announced this week that the 2009 down run would take place on Sunday 24 May and the 2010 up run on Sunday 30 May.

This year's marathon will be an up run on Sunday 15 June.

Sapa