George takes the Peninsula Marathon back to its glory days

27-year-old data scientist and former track star, George Kusche, raced to a memorable victory in the Balwin Properties Peninsula Marathon in perfect conditions this morning (Sunday 15 February) in the second fastest race time of the century, rekindling memories of the golden decade when the Peninsula Marathon attracted the country’s best marathoners.

Kusche won in 2 hrs 15 min 02 sec with Durban master athlete, Jenna Challenor, taking her third Peninsula title, finishing four minutes up on British athlete, Steph McCall, and crossing the finish line in 2:47:35.

Challenor’s time was four minutes inside her gold-medal winning time last year, when the Peninsula doubled as the ASA Marathon Championship. Her fastest time came in 2019, when she won in 2:46:05.

An error by the lead vehicle early in the race, which ran with smooth precision in every other facet under the baton of race director, Glen Muller, unwittingly added 400m and around 90 seconds to the times of the lead runners.

 3579 runners completed the marathon between Green Point and Simon’s Town within the cut-off time, while an additional 2868 finished the half marathon, run over the second part of the marathon route, starting at the halfway mark at Bergvliet.

Since taking over at the helm last year, Muller has focused on bringing back the best possible runner’s race experience, looking to make gradual improvements and increasing capacity as the organising club, Celtic Harriers’ resources allow.

“We have a strong relationship with the City and don’t want to jeopardise that by pushing too hard to soon,” reflected Muller. “We could have had 10 000 competing today and we will be working towards accommodating that number, but we needed to first consolidate before growing to that extent.

“The road network is a challenge – there is only one road into Simon’s Town from the north – but we are getting increasing numbers to use public transport. I’m pleased that more than 30% of the runners today made use of the buses and trains which were in service from the early hours of the day.”

The Peninsula Marathon began in 1964 as a training opportunity for the Comrades Marathon, as was the case with the Two Oceans Marathon. “Celtics’ runners used the Main Road to Simon’s Town to prepare for the Comrades Marathon and fortuitously the distance turned out to be 42km!  And so the marathon was born,” Celtic Harriers Club President, Harold Berman, recalled.

“Every year the race has finished at the Naval Sports Grounds in Simon’s Town,” added Berman, who as club secretary took on the job of race director in the late 1960s. “All except one year. In 1984, given the impact of the south-easter in summer, and to provide more favourable conditions for athletes seeking faster times, the race was turned around, starting in Simon’s Town and ending on the Grand Parade. Ron Boreham won in 2 hrs 17 min.”

But clearly the Peninsula Marathon gods did not approve and an unseasonal north-westerly wind blew that day, again impacting negatively on performance. Never again was the ‘reverse’ direction attempted.

But today the weather gods smiled on the runners, with a light, cooling breeze only arising in Fish Hoek after the elites had completed the race, leaving Kusche (‘I like to run out in the front’) to race clear from the start in Green Point to cross the lie in 2 hrs 15 min 02 sec.

Kusche’s time was second only to Simon Mpulanyane’s 2:13:40 in 2002 this century, over five minutes inside Bennet Seloyi’s win against a strong south-easter in last year’s race, which doubled as the ASA Marathon Championships, and is the 9^th fastest of all time.

Bernard Rose’s 2:14:41 win in the 1979, almost 20 minutes inside Brian Chamberlain’s win the previous year, signalled the start of a golden decade for the Peninsula.

The cream of South Africa’s distance athletes competed annually at the Peninsula, with names such as Ernest Tjala, Thompson Magawana, Willie Farrell, Mark Plaatjes, David and Rami Tsebe and Willie Mtolo competing for podium positions. Tjela’s 2:11:47 in 1987, a national marathon record at the time, remains unsurpassed at the Peninsula Marathon.

Similarly, the country’s leading women marathoners clashed between Green Point and Simon’s Town with names such as Sonja Laxton, Isavel Roche-Kelly, Lindsay Weight, Anette Falkson, Adelene Joubert, Beverley Malan and Monica Drogemoller appearing on the winner’s trophy during that era. Drogemoller’s 2:37:19, set in 1990, still stands as the course record. 

With one or two exceptions, such as Simon Mpulanyane’s 2:13:40 in2002, the quality of the race dipped sharply from the mid to late 1990s before recovering relatively recently and Kusche’s pillar to post performance was a revelation and the fastest in 24 years.

Kusche is a sub-four minute miler with a 5000m track best of 13 min 28 sec, which he set while on a sports scholarship in the USA. He switched to the road on his return to South Africa after COVID, clocking 2:20:12 in his marathon debut at Cape Town Marathon in 2024 and 2:20:48 at the Soweto Marathon last year.

While hoping for ‘something a little faster’ Kusche was pleased with his five-minute personal best, especially given his focus on the Comrades Marathon. “I felt good the whole way and really enjoyed the beauty of the route after Muizenberg – it’s a lovely South African route and a pleasure to run it. But with no one able to stay with me, it was quite hard having to take the pace the whole distance.

“I’ll be racing the Two Oceans Half marathon in April. I’d like to do the full distance, but I think it could negatively impact my Comrades performance so I’d rather be cautious.”

No one got close to Kusche, but twice winner, former Western Cape athlete now running for Nedbank KZN, Sithembiso Mqhele, ran a solid race to place second in 2:21:30, good enough to have won all but one Peninsula Marathon in the last decade and despite the longer-than-usual route, faster than his winning times in the 2022 and 2023 Peninsula Marathons.

Selwyn Matthews (Nedbank SWD) was the only top ten finisher from last year’s race who returned this year. He stayed with Mqhele until the final stages to place third in 2:22:49, three minutes inside his 7^th position last year.

One of the country’s most consistent ultra-runners over the past decade, Mthandazo Qhina, now running in the colours of NW province’s Impala Athletics Club, was first athlete home in the master’s 40 yrs category, finishing fourth in 2:28:58 while the fastest marathoner in the field, KZN athlete Adam Lipschitz, jogged home in fifth, one second under 2 hrs 30 min.

On course for personal best times in the Lisbon Half Marathon and the London Marathon in the next months, with an ambitious 2 hrs 06 min target at London and a longer-term goal to make the team for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Lipschitz used Peninsula as a tempo-training run, completing 40km at a pre-planned 3 min 22 sec pace before jogging to the finish.

TymeBank Langa athlete, William Kaptein, broke clear of the lead pack after 6km to win the Balwin Properties Peninsula Half Marathon, finishing in 1:07:36 and has his sights firmly set on a dual with Stephen Mokoka at the Two Oceans Half Marathon, while another British athlete escaping the English winter while training in Cape Town, Betty Briggs, took the honours in the women’s competition, winning in 1:19:49.

Trail athletes filled both runners-up positions, with Kane Reilly reprising his second position last year, running five minutes faster than his wind-affected race in 2025 and finishing just 50 seconds adrift of Kaptein, while Mila Geldenhuys finished just over a minute behind Briggs.

Results

Balwin Peninsula Marathon

Men: 1 George Kusche (Nedbank GN) 2:15:02; 2 Sithembiso Mqhele (Nedbank KZN) 2:21:30; 3 Selwyn Matthews (Nedbank SWD) 2:22:49; 4 Mthandazo Qhina (Impala NWN) 2:28:58; 5 Adam Lipschitz (Social Runners) 2:29:59; 6 Sithembele Cokile (RCS Gugs) 2:30:14; 7 Steven George (Strand) 2:31:12; 8 Mathew Trautman (Maverick) 2:31:55; 9 Kyle Bucklow (Fish Hoek) 2:32:05; 10 Joshua Chigome (AAC) 2:33:36

Women

1 Jenna Challenor (Nedbank KZN) 27:35; 2 Steph McCall (GB) 2:51:11; 3 Ilse Marais (Nedbank GN) 2:58:12; 4 Maretha Smit (Nedbank WP) 2:58:26; 5 Jenna Spooner (Maverick) 2:58:38; 6 Teneale Holley (tmp) 3:04:59; 7 Linda Kinloch (Bellville) 3:09:50; 8 Leozette Roode (ATC) 3:11:16; 9 Michelle Joubert (Durbanville) 3:11:31; 10 Dominique Cohen (AAC) 3:13:57

Balwin Peninsula Half Marathon

Men: 1 William Kaptein (TymeBank Langa) 1:07:36; 2 Kane Reilly (Tmp) 1:08:26; 3 Brendon Puller (Celtics) 1:10:56; 4 Lusindiso Mbuli (Held Har) 1:11:58; 5 Mandlenkosi Tuna (Nedbank WP) 1:13:11; 6 Siyabulela Mtshalala (Totalsports VOB) 1:14:02; 7 Vakalisa Kopolo (Nedbank WP) 1:14:22; 8 Jacov Lalou (Team Vitality CG) 1:14:41; 9 John Faure (tmp) 1:15:36; 10 Bernard Griesel (ATC) 1:16:35

Women: 1 Becky Briggs (GB) 1:19:49; 2 Mila Geldenhuys (TymeBank Langa) 1:20:59; 3 Mia Morrison (Jhb Country Club) 1:22:00; 4 Delia Binninger (tmp) 1:22:36; 5 Lara Twigg (Maverick) 1:27:09; 6 Madison Barefield (Celtics) 1:32:28; 7 Joanna Thomas (Totalsports VOB) 1:32:59; 8 Kate Mapham (tmp) 1:33:37; 9 Holly Thomas (Jeppe) 1:33:46; 10 Obertina Kanyonga (Edgemead)1:34:57

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