October 2025 - The Running Mann

27th October 202528th October 2025

A Deep Dive into the Cape Town Marathon cancellation (and the implications thereof)

There are two immediate questions to answer:

“Was the correct call made to cancel the Cape Town Marathon?” I believe that the answer to this question is a “Qualified Yes”.
“Should winds of 48km/h and gusts of 60km/h have resulted in the cancellation of the Cape Town Marathon?” To that the answer is an “Emphatic No”.

Actually, there is a third question that needs to be asked, “If we have 48km/h winds with 60km/h gusts on the night of 23 May 2026, will the Cape Town Marathon be cancelled again?” If the answer to that question is “Yes”, then we might as well kiss our World Marathon Major aspirations goodbye, pack up and go home. On the other hand, if the answer is “No”, then we should be looking at the root causes to ensure that they are not repeated.

24th October 202526th October 2025

Major Marathon Cancellations, Windy Marathons and the Peninsula Marathon Argument

This is a companion article to a forthcoming deep dive analysis article on the Cape Town Marathon cancellation and the impacts thereof. The article takes a look at the reasons behind other major marathons getting cancelled, marathons run in high wind and deals with the Peninsula Marathon argument.

Previous World Marathon Major Cancellations

Aside from Covid, there have been a very small number of Abbotts World Marathon Majors (AWMM) event cancellations. They are largely irrelevant in the comparison to the Cape Town Marathon (CTM) cancellation as the circumstances are very different.

The cancelled events are as follows.

New York Marathon 1995: The wheelchair division was cancelled a few minutes before the scheduled start time because 72km/h gusts of wind at the startline on Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. The gusts resulted in some planks that were erected to protect the bridge’s surface being ripped off and blown around. Organisers were concerned that lightweight racing wheelchairs, which can easily be destabilized by crosswinds, would be blown over or pushed into barriers on the bridge and therefore cancelled the wheelchair race. The able-bodied race (the vast majority of the field) continued as planned. The organisers faced criticism of discrimination, poor communication and not consulting with the wheelchair athletes when making the decision.

It is noteworthy that in 2014, New York Marathon runners faced sustained wind of 32-40km/h and gusts of up to 80km/h but the full event went ahead as planned. The organisers learned their lesson from 1995 and the wheelchair start was altered to fully accommodate this division.

21st October 202510th December 2025

Zone 3 Marathon (A perfect spring clean)

[Marathon #285 / Unique Marathon #175 / 7 September 2025]

With a focus on running marathons I’ve not done before, I tend not to run much in my own backyard these days but fortunately RunZone keep adding and tweaking the CGA race calendar. They replaced their Autumn Challenge 48k with the inaugural aQuelle Zone 3 Marathon which necessitated another couple of laps around Randburg.

The 6am start was shifted to 6:10am due to traffic congestion but Alistair Cronk on microphone duties kept us informed and entertained. At one stage he asked who was here for an early Comrades and / or Two Oceans qualifier and almost all the marathon runners put up their hands.

However, some people were still getting used to the change of seasons and this was reflected in the attire of some runners as can be seen from the photo below.

Official Fashion Police Ruling: It’s OK to wear tracksuit pants if you’re still warming up to the idea of the new marathon season starting…

10th October 202516th October 2025

The Running Mann’s Guide to November 2025 Marathons

This article provides detailed information on all South Africa’s November 2025 marathons including race descriptions and recommendations. You can find the full 2025 marathon / ultra calendar here.

A summary of your choices is below:

1st October 20251st October 2025

Lemo Mall Marathon (A Mangaung Resurrection)

[Marathon #281 / Unique Marathon #172 / 3 May 2025]

The first weekend of May is last chance saloon for many aspirant Comrades runners who still need to qualify and for those who’ve already secured their goal time it’s a last long run. There is a small minority, yours truly included, for whom the weekend provides a good excuse to run a marathon before winter properly sets in.

My choice of which marathon to run before the winter doldrums was made easier when I got an invite from Teboho Lemao to the second edition of the Lemo Mall Marathon. My frequent travel partners Julian and Farai were also on the guest list but unfortunately I was not able to travel early on Friday with them due to work commitments.