The Rise of the Cape Town Marathon

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In 2023 the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon became the first standard marathon in South Africa to crack the 10,000 finisher mark. The previous record was held by the Soweto Marathon with 9,274 finishers in 2019. Yesterday, Cape Town Marathon cemented its place on the top of the finisher’s table with 16,351 finishers – a massive jump of over 3,000 additional runners.

A comparison between the big four marathon events in South Africa makes for some interesting analysis. Cape Town Marathon has consistently been the most runner centric and best organised of the big four and this shows in their finisher numbers.

Infighting, internal politics and disappearing funds have plagued the Soweto Marathon over the years. Having run 12 Sowetos (it’s my favourite Gauteng marathon), one always arrives at the start line expecting a few race day issues. Soweto is the only event still to be held in 2024 and it will be interesting to see whether they can return to their pre-Covid numbers.

READ MORE: Soweto Marathon (Ubuntu for the average middle-class white guy)

Comrades recorded their second highest number of finishers this year – only the 2000 race with 20,017 finishers had a bigger field. However, Comrades are now less than 1,000 runners ahead of Cape Town and if current trends continue will be overtaken in the coming years. South Africa is probably the only country in the world where the largest ultra marathon has more finishers than the largest standard marathon.

Whether runners vote with their feet at Comrades 2025 and punish the organisation for a series of blunders and bizarre decisions remains to be seen. A lot will depend on whether Comrades chooses to increase their entry fees again after making a very healthy surplus in 2023 (and they are expected to announce another healthy surplus in 2024) as well as whether the attempted coup by KwaZulu Natal Athletics (KZNA) is successful.

READ MORE: Has the Comrades Marathon been Captured (and why Ann Ashworth was fired)

The last of the big four, Two Oceans, had their biggest year at their 50th running in 2019 with 12,100 runners. However, the race organisation allowed more entries than permitted by the City of Cape Town and the relationship between the two is still damaged as a result. Two Oceans has also been plagued by organisational issues and controversies recently. They would have had more than their 10,178 finishers this year had they not cutoff a large group of runners at the marathon mark who would otherwise have earned a medal.

READ MORE: Two Oceans 2024: Copycat cutoff chaos

The Two Oceans Board further lost the confidence of the running community by issuing statement blaming the runners for not reading the digimag which then turned out to be a baldfaced lie after it emerged that downloaded copies of the digimag showed the cutoff times were not included (conjecture is that the cutoff times were added to the online version of the digimag after the event). A new Board was recently elected and hopefully they will reverse the slide we’ve seen in recent years.

READ MORE: Two Oceans caught out in their own digimag lie

Credit for Cape Town Marathon’s achievements must go to Race Director, Barry van Blerk, and his team. Cape Town Marathon is run as a private company with some Western Province Athletics representation at the ExCo. There has been much criticism recently of the Comrades and Two Oceans Boards and their lack of professionalism. Both emerged as major events during the isolation era but severe shortcomings with the ‘board system’ have been exposed and prominent figures like Norrie Williamson have proposed an overhaul of their outdated structures and constitutions. However, Soweto is run as a private company but has not escaped severe problems which resulted in the race being cancelled in some years.

The Cape Town Marathon is looking to become the first World Marathon Major in Africa. There is still plenty for them to do to achieve that international accolade but they have certainly ticked all the right boxes for the South African road running enthusiasts. It’s seems that the key to growth and a controversy-free event is having people at the helm who put the best interests of the runners first.

READ MORE: Cape Town Marathon (Give trees a chance)

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12 Replies to “The Rise of the Cape Town Marathon”

  1. The comparison of finisher numbers for the two marathons and ultras is obviously pertinent, but I think mention must be made of the fact that three of these events also offer shorter distance events as part of their race-day or race weekend programme, and thus bring a whole lot more runners to the roads (and in some cases, trails). In my opinion, that is also a pertinent part of the allure and success of these events.

  2. The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon is by far one of the most professionally organized races in South Africa if not the world. I did my second this past weekend and it was incredible. Bravo to the Organizers

  3. I have done my 2nd Cape Town marathon the support on the road the friendly atmosphere and staff at the water points including the msrshalls and law enforcement staff was top notch well done to the race organizers and the leadership as a whole. Keep up the good and amazing work.

  4. It is 4th Cape town marathon,I almost pass on due to COVID .In 2022 I have walked a whole year to get my strength back (3445km) .And I started to train and run marathon on Sunday.My time was 5hrs 8minutes it would have been 04.55hrs but I jump on a wrong bus,which was my fault all and all the race was well oiled .We’ll done to the organisation.

  5. This is my 3rd Sanlam CT Marathon.
    A well organized and hugely supported race.
    The atmosphere along the route is electrifying.
    Well done CT Marathon,I hope to return annually.

  6. The Two Oceans entries opened and closed within a week and without a whiff. So I missed it. I will not fight it. Will run something else, SCTM sounds like a runner’s race.

    Soweto is same weekend as Kaapsehoop. I like the Nelspruit tannies. Will go run their not so little race.

  7. This was my 10th Sanlam Cape Town Marathon.
    Cape Town put on a GREAT show this weekend.
    WE put our best feet forward this past weekend.
    I can’t think of anything we could have done better.
    I am proudly SOUTH African and a local marathon runner and I really experience the best we had to offer.
    Thank You Lord for a GREAT marathon weekend.
    Cape Town Marathon deserve AFTER three testing years to be awarded the coveted Africa’s FIRST running major.
    Blessed Christian Regards,
    #683

  8. Hello Cape Town Marathon. Your expo was by far exceptional and interesting. All the shops were lovely to visit and purchase.
    My race being my first was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking figurative and literally. A very well organised race. The tables and supporters were amazing. Thank you guys. Without you the Exco and the supporters we couldn’t do the times we did. I could see how relaxed the runners were whilst running. I myself was relaxed. Beautiful route and impressive surroundings. Will definitely do this race again. Inspirational💞 The medal 🥇 was nice however, I would love if it had a little more thought in colour and depth in the print on it. Only a suggestion. So that it goes hand in hand with the expertise and greatness of the whole event. All the best 🍁🤗

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