Road Running sizzles in South Africa as Cape Town joins the world’s marathon elite

Road running in South Africa is at an all time high.

More than 21 000 will line up at Durban City Hall tomorrow (Sunday 14 June) for the 99^th edition of the Comrades Marathon, widely acknowledged as the world’s greatest ultra-marathon, hot on the heels of the announcement this week that Cape Town has joined an exclusive club of the world’s leading big city marathons.

While all eyes will be on the 85.777km between Durban City Hall and the Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg tomorrow (the shortest in the race’s history) and whether defending ‘up run’ champions Gerda Steyn and Dutch athlete Piet Wiersma will retain their crowns, Cape Town is still buzzing with excitement.

The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon (SCTM) team are still on a high following their success in securing Abbott World Marathon Major (AbbottWMM) status and joining Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Sydney, Chicago and New York at the richest feast of marathon running on the planet.

In a defining moment of sporting history, the event passed the second and final stage of its Abbott World Marathon Majors (AbbottWMM) assessment at the 2026 race last month and will formally enter the series at its next edition on 23 May 2027.

There  is little doubt that the slick professionalism that Gardner and his team brought to the event in every facet of the race impressed the AbbottWMM assessment team, but the testimonies of world marathon greats, Eliud Kipchoge, Edna Kiplagat and others would have touched their hearts, adding icing to the SCTM-baked cake.

“To be able to race a world-class marathon on my home continent has been one of the highlights of my career,” was a constant refrain from leading marathoners from several African countries.

But how did the World Marathon Majors evolve and what will its status mean for Cape Town and the continent? And what can Cape Town bring to the world’s most elevated and influential marathon club?

Two CEOs were primarily responsible for making that happen – SCTM supremo, Clark Gardner, and Abbott WMM’s  Dawna Stone – and they spoke to SPNAfrica about the what, why and wherefores of Cape Town’s success.

Earlier this week Stone had made the formal announcement. “It gives me huge pleasure to welcome Cape Town to the family,” she said. “After watching the race grow in size and stature during its candidacy and also seeing the resilience and dedication of the team lead so wonderfully by Clark Gardner, Africa’s first Major has finally arrived.

“The unique culture, the welcome from the people of the city and the wonderful setting Cape Town provides will bring a whole new dimension to our series. I know runners in Africa and across the world will have a phenomenal experience at this race.”

How did Gardner react to the news?

“Because of the long journey to get here and the level of sacrifice my team had to make, my overwhelming feeling when I was given the thumbs up was one of relief,” the SCTM CEO admitted.

“To get here we had to challenge the stereotyping of an African city by meeting a tough set of criteria which had been developed for modern first-world cities. My unbelievable team took a toll, but they will take solace from the positive verdict.”

How tough had it been to pick themselves up after the weather-enforced cancellation of the race last October?

“To sacrifice that much for no reward and only a penalty was hard,”Gardner confessed. “I saw the toll it took which was upsetting for me. We had been doing really well but suddenly we were being crucified.

“But we don’t have the mindset to give up, in spite of the enormous financial burden the cancellation brought about and the delay of another year,” Gardner emphasised.

“Sanlam, our title sponsor, have been with the race since 2014.  They bought into the bigger vision and trusted us to deliver. Their solution (to allow those who had entered to run in 2026 or 2027) helped hugely. It was a beautiful gesture.”

AbbottWMM’s vision is ‘to inspire the world through marathons’ and Stone has crafted its delivery for four years. She represents an admirable blend of athleticism and business entrepreneurship, having spearheaded a range of transformational programmes for major American and global organisations.

“I swam very competitively from a young age and eventually in college/university,” Stone told SPNA. “My first marathon wasn’t until 1993 while in graduate school. My second was as part of the Hawaii Ironman.

“It wasn’t until this past April that I finally did my first (Marathon) Major by participating in the TCS London Marathon. It was amazing! Now I want to do them all – it’s just difficult with my work responsibilities during race week and race day. But I am determined to make it happen!”

Each of the original six Marathon Majors was hugely successful in its own right.  What was the motivation for coming together as an influential road marathon network?

“The core principles for the formation of the Majors were to promote the sport, help to champion clean sport and create a series that celebrated the best marathon athletes on the planet,” Stone explained.

“That evolved over time to add the wheelchair elite series and also to celebrate the everyday runners taking on the Majors.  That’s why the Six Star medal was born in 2016 (it has now become the Eight Star Medal).”

The Big Six became seven with the addition of Sydney last year and eight with Cape Town coming on board this year. Why the need to grow and when to stop?

“To be a truly global series we wanted to add races in parts of the world where there was no Major. It’s not just about encouraging our engaged runners to travel but to bring Majors- level events to those running communities where no Major existed.

“We want to inspire the world through the power of the marathon and this is a crucial part of that vision. We are fully focused on getting to nine with Shanghai requiring one more pass this year as a candidate city. That’s our sole objective at this time.”

Were there aspects of this year’s SCTM which were as strong or stronger than any other Major?  What can Cape Town contribute to AbbottWMM? 

“The performance of the Ndlovu Youth Choir at the welcoming concert for the Age Group World Championship on the Friday night was goose-bump stuff,” Gardner enthused. “And we were told that the spirit of Africa we created at the start line with singing, dancing and chanting was unmatched by any other world marathon.  

“Some of the AbbottWMMs are great races but encourage finishers to move off home as soon as possible due to limited space at the finish. We did the opposite, encouraging athletes to pause, linger and share their race stories over refreshments in the ‘Chill Zone’ or ‘Club Zone’. Our post-race hospitality was phenomenal.”

Gardner also felt that the delivery of the Age Group World Championship as a ‘race within a race’ had been very successful. “We considered carefully before accepting this offer,” Gardner admitted. “It’s much more complex and difficult than meets the eye, requiring a whole new entry and registration system and separate opening and closing functions.

“But in the end, we realised that hosting the fastest club runners around the world was a massive marking opportunity, and so it turned out. We received an email of congratulations from AbbottWMM saying that Cape Town had been the best Age Group World Championship ever.

“The overwhelming majority had never been to Africa and they left with a very different perspective of the continent.”

Stone endorsed that view. “We have had extremely positive feedback from the Age Group World Championship runners, and these are experienced athletes who know what good looks like.

“All the positive feedback is a huge badge of honour for Cape Town. Their attention to detail for this group was outstanding. The championship next goes to Tokyo – their team were in Cape Town and had a front row seats to the great job Cape Town did!”

Stone emphasised that all Marathon Majors bring their own culture and community to the series. “Cape Town did exactly that. The music, the food, the people, the atmosphere was uniquely Cape Town and uniquely African.

“Bringing all of that to our family adds a new dimension and new experience for runners who come to run the race and soak up this amazing country,” Stone added. “All our races learn from each other. One of the strengths of this group is its willingness to share best practice in every area.”

It is impossible for any event to deliver strongly in every area. Where might the SCTM need to up its game and learn from its AbbottWMM siblings?

“Majors stay out front as the best in the world by constantly looking for things they can do better,” explained Stone. “The Cape Town team was open to years of feedback and advice from our evaluators and the other race directors and that will always be the case.

“No matter how good a race is or how much success they have, there are always small things that can be done to make improvements.”

Gardner was quick to put his finger on areas marked for improvement next year. “We have an incredible transport plan, but we will be looking to improve in respect to transporting participants to the start.

“And we dropped ball on bag collection. But I know why and this will be a quick fix for next year.  

“Then there were one or two crowd flow issues. We need to improve our directional signage in terms of height and size. What looked great when there were only a few people around proved inadequate when 10 000 people moved in front of the signage!”

But these were relatively small issues on the bright and bold canvas of a world-class event and Capetonians will be celebrating its elevation to the world’s most prestigious marathon club.

“Joining the Abbott World Marathon Majors brings significant prestige to the city,” said Gardner. “While tourism might not be for everyone, the SCTM boosts our economy significantly and the many semi-skilled and skilled jobs the event creates impact our unemployment rates. This is so much more than simply a marathon. It’s a showcase of African excellence – an African story of hope and possibility.

“Around eighty percent of the world’s top marathoners are from Africa,” Gardner continued. “Until now they had to fly to other continents to compete in a world class marathon. It is telling that this was Eliud Kipchoge’s first race in Africa.

“Being an Abbott WMM gives our younger talented athletes a chance to race a world class marathon at an early age.  Adriaan Wildschutt, who paced the field this year, was able to get a feel for the marathon against top athletes in preparation of a potential debut marathon.

“Elroy Gelant wanted to run but had not fully recovered from injury while Lesotho athlete, Kamohelo Mofolo, chose to debut in Cape Town and would have learned a lot (Mofolo finished 11^th in 2:08:50, the leading Southern African finisher).

“We hope to inspire our youth,” Gardner added. “I saw hope in the eyes of the children in Langa, gazing up at Eliud (Kipchoge) when he visited the school there. They started to dream about what might one day be possible for them.

“Also this is good news for WP Athletics, who are well represented on our board and will benefit financially through the higher costs of the international entries. We anticipate receiving 10 500 international entries next year.”

In closing, Gardner stressed that while achieving AbbottWMM status had been great, that was never their destination. “(Our end goal) has always been defined in terms of participants’ experience and we will keep on pursuing that year on year,” Gardner emphasised.

“We want to use the marathon to tell stories and create documentaries, accentuating the African spirit to counter any misinformation about the continent.”

Gardner acknowledges the significant contribution made by Elana Meyer and Janet Welham, who led the team which began to steer Cape Town Marathon to it’s current world standing.

“Credit must go to them – they were responsible for a large part of our victory. They built a big platform which allowed us to fly.”

While no longer at the coalface, the 1992 Olympic silver-medallist, Meyer, completed this year’s SCTM along with many of her family. “I am flooded by emotions,” she admitted. “It has been a dream since 2013.

“Sanlam Cape Town Marathon becoming a World Marathon Major feels like winning an Olympic medal, but even better because it is a collective victory and it belongs to everyone who made it possible !

“My heart and passion contributed a drop in ocean and the Peace Flame (which came into being in 2014 through Meyer’s influence) will be my yearly reminder of the mission accomplished!”

The post Road Running sizzles in South Africa as Cape Town joins the world’s marathon elite appeared first on Sports Network Africa.