Athletes currently have 12 hours to complete the course, extended from 11 hours in 2003 (including a special 12 hour allowance in the year 2000). The original Comrades cut-off time from 1921 to 1927 was also 12 hours, reduced to 11 hours in 1928. There are a number of cut-off points along the routes which runners must reach by a prescribed time or be forced to retire from the race. A runner who successfully completed nine marathons wears a yellow number, while those who completed ten races wear a green number, permanently allocated to the runner for all future races. Runners running their 20th, 30th and 40th races are also indicated by yellow numbers - differently formatted on different years.