Red Star Raceway Marathon (Racing on a one-stop strategy)

[Marathon #289 / Unique Marathon #178 / 11 October 2025]

The Red Star Marathon is 11-and-a-bit laps around the Red Star Raceway just outside Delmas alongside the N12 highway. The race was started in 2023 and I had successfully avoided running it for two years. However, there was just one marathon in the whole of South Africa on the second weekend of October which naturally led to Julian and I making the short 45-minute drive just across the Mpumalanga provincial border line to rev our motors.

Of course, Julian had run both previous marathons but his chassis was in economy mode ahead of his 1000^th marathon at Soweto and he only entered the half marathon this year. All distances start at 7am and, with a relatively small field (51 marathon finishers and just under 400 across all distances), there is no traffic congestion. These combine to allow for a bit of a lie in. Those who need even more beauty sleep can stay at the racetrack with reasonably priced accommodation and the added incentive of an old-school pasta party, motor car racing and kids’ entertainment the night before the race.

However, the friendly 7am start does mean an extra hour of full sun on the racetrack. For obvious safety reasons, you won’t find any trees or shade of any kind along the circuit so you want to make sure you are fully lubricated with sunblock before entering the track.

Each of the four distances starts at a different point on the racetrack and the first challenge was to figure out which one was for the marathoners. As I approached my tribe, I saw the familiar figure of Norrie Williamson calling the shots to the idling engines just behind the start line timing mats. When you see Norrie at the start of a race, you know you will never be running a short course.

The racetrack is 3.8km in distance so we were in for 11-and-a-bit laps. Norrie Williamson is one of only three A grade course measurers in South Africa and, as one of the editors of the international manual, quite literally ‘wrote the book on course measurement’ (the other A grade measurers are Gavin Wright who was recently voted onto the Two Oceans board and Pieter de Jager).

I ended up with 42.8km and referred this to Norrie who explained, “So the shortest route per lap in Red Star is 3.808km. Now on a normal route (with not as many corners – this one has 13 corners (excluding minor curves) per lap so we would allow a variance of 8m per km for a competitive runner running the shortest line using a Garmin.”

Norrie continued, “Now on this it’s likely to be more (offset by GPS). Plus on Red Star people do not run the shortest line all the time. If you were only to run on the right hand side half width and run the shortest line the distance is 3.915 km so 107m extra per lap.”

His final summation of my run was, “With 42.8k you weren’t that bad.” The bottom line is that when you run an officially measured course, the official route measurement is always more accurate than your watch.

The track is pancake flat. The total elevation gain of just 120m over the marathon distance makes this the flattest in the country. However, despite the absence of hills, there were some other dangers and warning signs like the one below before entering the track. With several hairpin bends to contend with, Julian’s biggest fear was that they would curtail his free-flowing hairstyle. We’ll probably never know what Julian looks like in a ponytail as his wild stallion of a hairdo has yet to be saddled.

I was more concerned with the threat of a R5000 fine for an oil spill on the track. The regular runner will be pleased to note that there are porterloo pitstop stations dotted around the track. I popped into the twin towers in the photo below for a quick and efficient visit. I can confirm that I serviced my own engine and did not require the assistance of a pit crew for any clean-ups.

Pit stops are indeed vital during marathons but when it comes to urgently pulling into the pits, I am more of a ‘drop and go’ than a ‘sip and snack’ customer. For the record, I was on a one-stop strategy.

On the subject of finding a comfortable seat for a comfort break during the run… You do start to ask yourself questions when running 11 mindless laps around a racetrack and the ‘motivational’ sign boards add some additional questions into the mix like, “Want to do this in a race car?”

Most of the tables had vehicles on display but this one in portaloo blue with #2 on the front particularly resonated with me. Ironically, another big benefit of running on the racetrack is that there are no actual cars to worry about for the duration of the event.

For the record, driving a large segment of the route and claiming a finish is known as “pulling a Naguriah” (see https://runningmann.co.za/2025/04/19/is-two-oceans-soft-on-cheating/ for explanation). I can also report that, as the new chair of the Two Oceans Marathon disciplinary sub-committee, Anthony Naguraih has subsequently been banned from the event and will save himself some taxi fare next year.

Another question I was asking was what the sign above (shortly before the Shell waterpoint) meant. It was translating rudely in my head every lap. However, in motor racing jargon, “box, box” actually means “come into the pit lane now.” Having said that, if South Africa does get a F1 Grand Prix I imagine that the Afrikaans commentators may well herald Max Verstappen in with “box, box”.

Whilst this is obviously not the most exciting route, the in-race facilities are superb. There are four super friendly and well-stocked support tables so you will never go hungry or thirsty. With the circuit format you are never alone on the track – although for me most conversations were quick ‘blue flag’ greetings as someone whizzed by on an overtaking lapping manoeuvre. If you have psychological problems with getting ‘chicked’ this race is a good way to deal with your issues.

Lap Records: The fastest lap of the day of 12:32 was shared by Katlego Motseta and Fernando Macavele who won the 21.1k and 10k races respectively. The fastest marathon lap of 12:39 was also recorded by the race winner Paseka Mosehla. Interestingly they all ran their second lap the fastest. The fastest female lap of 15:37 belonged to half marathon winner Melissa Jansen van Vuuren who ran her last lap the quickest to finish 18 seconds ahead of her twin sister Melinda. The fastest female marathon lap was 16:26 by Gladys Jepchirchir, once again the winner, on her eighth lap.

The race was the brainchild of Jacky Grassman. Grassman, a longtime servant of the sport, was part of the Red Star Raceway marketing team and thought that the track would make a great venue for a parkrun. The first parkrun in 2019 sewed the seed for a full marathon. Grassman reminisces, “As the parkrun grew, so did the idea: What if we hosted a full marathon right here? It felt like the ultimate challenge — one that brings together mind, body, and soul. This marathon is truly run as much in the head as it is on the feet.”

I ended up running several laps with one of the unheralded contributors to the South African running scene, Roto Mahloko, who was running the half. Roto travels the country covering races and running personalities in his exceptional YouTube channel. He recently dropped fascinating full length interviews with Bruce Fordyce and Louis Massyn and is on a mission to interview every living Comrades winner.

I enjoyed chatting away on camera about Cheryl Winn, Comrades, Two Oceans and Cape Town Marathon (and off camera about many other topics). You can see his “running commentary” from Red Star here: https://youtu.be/8HUCNxGNzIY?t=323 and I’d recommend giving him a follow on YouTube, Facebook or Instagram.

One of the questions people asked me on social media after the race was, “How do you keep track of how many laps you’ve done?”

There are several methods, some more failsafe than others. You are issued with the precise number of elastic bands for your distance and can drop these (or shoot them) into the bin at the starting grid. My thick wrists and easily distracted nature meant that this was not really a viable option.

With the offer to “Drop a Band” every lap, I did laterally think “If I had to pick 11 bands to listen to (1 per lap), which ones would I choose and what would be their most appropriate ‘running song’?” I am still working on this and think it deserves its own article.

However, a much more reliable method is the official timing mats. There was apparently a screen that you can see to track your progress but it must have been well hidden because I missed seeing it 11 times. And an even more reliable method is your GPS watch and some basic math.

The race is also timed to coincide with World Drifting Day. After the runners had cleared the track in the afternoon, the race cars would burn some rubber but (whilst running) we got a good view of some vehicular ballet in the adjacent skid pan.

However, the cars clear the track again in the evening and there is a 12 hour cycle race that runs from 6pm to 6am the following morning. This makes Red Star perhaps the only place in the country where motorists, cyclists and runners all play nicely together! Grassman agreed that this was by design, “The goal has always been simple: to bring together all kinds of athletes — runners, cyclists, motorsport lovers and families — into one community at Red Star Raceway, where passion and sport truly meet.”

As the other distances completed their allocated circuits, it did start to get lonelier and lonelier on the track whilst the temperature got hotter and hotter. However, if you started to see flames, it was good to know that there was a firefighter on hand.

There was no gold at the end of the rainbow and, despite there being just 51 finishers, there was never going to be a gold medal for me at the end of the race either.  The closest I got to a pot of gold were the plentiful bananas at the support tables.

However, there was a lovely gold medal story from Keith Reynolds. Keith is something of a running legend with 36 Comrades medals and many ultra distance and multi-day events to his name. Keith had interviewed me a couple of times on the United Athletes Forum’s Sunday evening Zoom call but we’d never met in person until he lapped me at Red Star.

On a subsequent Reynolds’ overtaking manoeuvre, I put in a quick burst of speed to ask him how things were going, to which he answered, “I just got a call from my sister to tell me that my mother died.” I was obviously a bit taken aback and double-checked that I’d heard correctly. Keith said that it was a relief that she was no longer in pain, that there was nothing he could do now and that he would be running the rest of the race in memory of his mom.

And Keith did just that, as he started his final lap he spotted the first placed master just ahead of him. In a touching Facebook post he explained, “I quietly said ‘for you Mom’ and found an amazing amount of energy and purpose to push on. At almost a minute per km faster than previously throughout the race, I quickly caught up and put in an extra effort to open up a gap, leaving him no chance for a comeback. In the end I finished with a gap of a few minutes.” Keith secured his first marathon distance age category win and said that he was, “Thrilled to be able to associate the race as a celebration of the incredible person she was.”

Having looked on in envy at the other runners continually veering left on the finish straight, I was running on empty when I finally got the checkered flag. So much so that I decided to give the racetrack a proper sendoff – I just hope that the ICC don’t give me demerit points (there might have been some swearing involved as well).

Fortunately top photographer Tumelo Mabua applied great technique and use of lighting to make me look relatively fresh after those 11 energy sapping laps. I also appreciate that he did a waist-up shot to keep my tired and weary legs out of the frame!

I was a little bit concerned when the trio of race referees called me over. At school I was called into a headmaster’s office many times and this situation felt exactly the same. However, head referee Johanita Bester wanted to complain about Central Gauteng drivers and their road rage. She told me that they are the worst behaved on the road, singling out those from Benoni as the epicentre of obnoxiousness. She said, “People listen to The Running Mann – can you do a post about this?” I am always happy to stay on the right side of the law so here’s a reminder to wear both of your ASA license numbers and to be courteous to the referees.

The Red Star Marathon is the easiest marathon to get to in Mpumalanga. The official elevation stats show that it is the flattest marathon in the country. On paper this is an easy marathon. However, with the heat and mental monotony, it is a bigger challenge than one would expect. It was, however, the easiest part of my weekend. I arrived home to a very loud screech of 14 teenage girls for my youngest’s sleepover birthday party. The sound of squealing tyres and growling engines paled in comparison to the discordant sonic cacophony I faced for most of the rest of the weekend.

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