CAPE TOWN - The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, scheduled to take place in September, is starting to play a decisive role in opening the elite marathon world to Africa athletes with its newly acquired IAAF Gold Status likely to prove a strong magnet to the continent’s best distance running talent.
And with a faster-than-ever revised course, details of which are due to be revealed shortly, Cape Town could become the destination of choice for many looking to post bronze, silver or gold standard marathon times on their athletics CV.
An elite entry ticket into the world’s leading marathons is hard to come by for many potential future super-stars who have not yet made their mark on the world stage, and Cape Town, the continent’s first and only gold-status standard marathon, is the ideal place to catapult them to stardom.
“We are very proud that the Cape Town Marathon has assisted several African athletes by providing a springboard for their international careers,” said former leading middle-distance star and current race director Janet Welham.
“And now we have gold status, we can anticipate that more and more runners will be looking to Cape Town to help them on their way.”
Ethiopian Asefa Negewo raced to a personal best in winning in Cape Town last September in the fastest time on South African soil on a certified course of 2:08:41. Negewo’s time met the IAAF gold standard qualification, and earned him a place in the elite field in this year’s London Marathon, where he ran a credible 7th in 2:10:04 in April.
Cape Town resident and British athlete, Tish Jones, won an elite entry at London with her 2:36:13 victory in Cape Town last year, a time she improved by a further three minutes in London where she was the third British athlete to finish.
Khayelitsha marathoner Lungile Gongqa’s life was changed in September 2015 when he finished second in the Cape Town Marathon to winner Shadrack Kemboi of Kenya, clocking his lifetime best of 2:11:59, enough to secure his place on the marathon team to compete in the Rio Olympics.
While running below par in Brazil, Gongqa bounced back to win this year’s Two Oceans Marathon, the first Cape-based runner to succeed since Don Hartley in 1973.
Winner of the women’s competition at Cape Town in 2014, Ethiopian Meseret Mengistu, used the Mother City’s achievement to lay the platform for her excellent win at the Paris Marathon in 2015, where she clocked a superb lifetime best of 2:23:24, while Lesotho’s Motlokoa Nkhabutlane also tasted Parisian success after his 4th place in Cape Town, running to a top ten place and best time of 2:09:46 at the French event.
“I’m so pleased that the world is now taking notice and that athletes are using the Cape Town marathon to get opportunities to compete against the world’s best in international competition,” Marathon ambassador and former South African world-beater, Elana Meyer remarked.
“Of course it helps that Cape Town is an iconic city, making the Marathon even more highly regarded, but the athletes must also run the times. The fact that they are doing so already is excellent and I’m certain this year’s race will be better than ever.”
Welham echoed Meyer’s view. “Having received IAAF Gold Label accreditation after being promoted from Silver Label status last year, the race will offer local and African athletes the chance to compete at an elite international marathon on home soil,” explained Welham.
Increasingly, aspirant African marathoners looking for career breaks will be following the Cape Town Marathon’s slogan rather than looking to Europe: “Africa is my home, this is my race. It’s Cape Town, must run it!”