Julian Karp Archives - The Running Mann

6th August 20266th August 2026

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.

21st March 202621st March 2026

Barberton Makhonjwa Mountain Marathon (The School of Rock)

[Marathon #286 / Unique Marathon #176 / 13 September 2025]

After travelling all over the country to get my marathon fixes, it’s good to know that there are still a few marathons that can take one’s breath away – both literally and figuratively. However, I was not expecting Barberton to be that place. It is a town I had never visited and I might never have found my way to the eastern extremities of South Africa if they did not host a marathon.

A breathtaking sunrise from my accommodation near the start, the hills to follow would quite literally take my breath away again later in the day.

11th November 202511th November 2025

Press Release: Julian Karp – First African to Complete 1000 Marathons

Julian Karp is set to become the first African to complete 1000 marathons at this year’s Soweto Marathon on Saturday 29 November.

9th November 20259th November 2025

Karpe Diem (Julian’s Journey to 1000 Marathons)

This article was originally published in the official 2025 Comrades Marathon Souvenir Race Magazine and was edited by Sean Falconer.

Julian Karp loves running marathons, and he has traversed every corner of the country to get his marathon-running fix, making him probably the most recognised recreational runner on South African roads. (If you have not seen Julian’s flowing locks of hair and ripped physique on the road somewhere near you, can you call yourself a real runner?) Now he has his sights set on another incredible marathoning feat at this year’s Comrades Marathon. – BY STUART MANN

Julian Karp: Probably the most recognised recreational runner on South African roads (Photo: Dean Venish)

I’ve known Julian since well before he ran his 20^th marathon… which was many years before I ran my first. At the time, I was a student with a hairstyle rivalling Julian’s famous locks, and I was earning some extra cash by waitering in a Spur. Julian was a regular customer who would come in after a gym session, for a grilled chicken burger and a side salad. He ran with my father, so I’d often alleviate the boredom of a quiet shift with a conversation about running.

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.

23rd April 20257th January 2026

Elands Marathon (there’s no such thing as an easy marathon)

[MARATHON #278 / 2nd Elands Marathon / 1 March 2025]

Most people get injured when they run too much, I seem to get injured when I run too little. I had been taking it easy since the Mdantsane Marathon at the beginning of December with nothing longer than 10km and was just doing enough mileage to keep my beer belly in check. Let’s just say I was in a good equilibrium at the beginning of January when all of a sudden, I felt a pain at the top of my hip during my morning 10k.

Of course my immediate reaction was to try and ‘run it out’. After 5 km of steadily escalating agony, I finally breached my pain threshold and walked home. I was convinced it was a stress fracture but it later turned out to be a very badly strained gluteus medius which had detached from the bone (hence feeling like a stress fracture but with more ‘pull’).

29th January 202523rd March 2025

Mdantsane Marathon (Get in the ring)

[MARATHON #277 / UNIQUE MARATHON #170 / 7 December 2024]

The whole of South Africa slows down in December and good marathons are hard to find (but a hard marathon is always good to find). Luckily the Eastern Cape provides some festive cheer for the obsessive marathon runner, hosting the only two pre-Christmas options – the 1City Marathon in Gqeberha and the Mdantsane Marathon just outside East London. Unfortunately, this presents a Christmas predicament for the marathon enthusiast as they were both run on the first Saturday in December in 2024. Having run the 1City Marathon in 2023, Julian and I opted to head to Buffalo City and tackle the hills of Mdantsane.

9th November 202410th November 2024

MadMac Marathon (a cure for coulrophobia)

[MARATHON #274 / UNIQUE MARATHON #168 / 6 October 2024]

Between Comrades and Two Oceans, I have spent a lot of time this year writing about clowns. You could say I was acquiring a severe case of coulrophobia – which is of course the fear of clowns. However, I seem to have developed a unique strain called antici-coulrophobia – which is a fear about what the aforementioned clowns will do or say next (and then I have to spend a great deal of time writing about it).

Fortunately, I was confident that I could find a 100% successful cure for extreme antici-coulrophobia by facing my fears head on and self-medicating at the clown-themed MadMac Marathon. The theme was chosen as the race venue is the site of the old Boswell Wilkie Circus in Randvaal and there is still plenty of circus apparatus and remnants of the now defunct circus around.

Fitting right in: Julian Karp has promised to dye his hair for next year’s race.

14th October 202414th October 2024

Musina Marathon (Borderline crazy)

[MARATHON #272 / UNIQUE MARATHON #165 / 7 September 2024]

The inaugural Musina Marathon held in the northern extremities of Limpopo was the only marathon in the whole of South Africa over the entire weekend of 7-8 September. Musina is a stone’s throw from the Zimbabwean border and the last town on the N1 before hitting the Beit Bridge border post and crossing the Limpopo River.

Musina is where the devil spends his winters when he wants to warm up. It’s a place where your entry level sunblock is Factor 50. Legend has it that a Scotsman visiting Musina made the fatal mistake of sitting down on the pavement and ended up with hard boiled eggs in under three minutes. In other words, this is a fantastic place for a connoisseur to run a marathon.

29th September 202429th September 2024

Coastal Marathon (When you start to go postal…)

[MARATHON #270 / UNIQUE MARATHON #164 / 4 August 2024]

Most people have their Comrades dreams (or more commonly nightmares) in the build up to the event but for the last two years mine have occurred after the race. In late July and early August I was neck deep in the post-Comrades quagmire. I wasn’t sure whether I was mentally in the right space to run a marathon but I figured that if you start to go postal, then it’s time to go coastal…