The Comrades Marathon Association will hold meetings with key stakeholders, including politicians, to find a suitable alternative date for the race after complaints at the weekend from the African National Congress Youth League that the marathon detracted from the June 16 commemoration.
The staging of the race on June 16 came under fire from youth league firebrand Fikile Mbalula during a Youth Day rally in Durban, and from his KwaZulu-Natal counterpart, Nhlakanipho Ntombela, who is also chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal Youth Commission.
Addressing the Youth Day rally in Greytown, Ntombela urged Premier S'bu Ndebele to intervene in the matter.
"June 16 is ours. We are proud of it and we are jealous of it. The youth of this province do not want their event to compete with the Comrades Marathon," he said.
On Monday, Comrades Marathon Association manager Gary Boshoff said: "We are sensitive to this because June 16 is an important day.
"We will discuss this with the premier and look at it with a view to coming up with a date suitable to everyone, including Athletics South Africa, Athletics KwaZulu-Natal and the business community."
He expressed appreciation for the role the government had played in the race, saying it had been very supportive of the event.
Before 1994 Comrades was staged on May 31, which was Republic Day. However, it was later moved to June 16 with the apparent support of the new government.