Cape Town has struck gold! The Mother City is abuzz with the news that it is the first African city to be afforded IAAF Gold Label status for a standard marathon.
Three years of hard work and application, and the hosting of three successive city marathons of exceptional quality, has paid dividends with the announcement at yesterday’s launch in a city hotel that the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon has been awarded the top status in road running by the international governing body for athletics.
“This is as close as I will get to a gold medal,” joked Cape Town executive mayor, Patricia de Lille, at the launch. “Cape Town is now on the world marathon stage.
“When I was asked to shoot the start gun at the 2014 event, I said I really hoped that Cape Town would become one of the top marathons in the world, and lo and behold, this has now happened.
“The Cape Town Marathon is a very inclusive event - Capetonians of all shapes, sizes and colours come together to enjoy the challenge of running a marathon. Capetonians love to be outdoors and this race provides one of the best opportunities to celebrate our beautiful city together.
“And I love the race’s mantra - ‘Africa is our home, this is our race. It’s Cape Town, must run it.’ This is a good news story we must cherish.”
Caught up in the party spirit of the launch, De Lille committed to taking part in this year’s event as a runner. “But only the 10km! That will be a big achievement for me. We now have to find all the fat politicians and get them to start running,” she said.
Race ambassador and former world half marathon gold medallist, Elana Meyer, who did as much as anyone to achieve the status for Cape Town, viewed the achievement as a step towards her ultimate goal. “I have always been inspired and motivated by achieving excellence,” Meyer said. “Today I feel privileged and honoured to be an ambassador of the IAAF Gold Label Cape Town Marathon. It takes us a step closer to achieving our dream and I will continue to embrace this event as a platform for change.”
The marathon cut-off of 10 000 participants (23 000 for all events including the 10km Peace Run, the two Peace Trail races and the 5km fun run) looks certain to be reached in record time. And joining the stampede to sign up were sporting legends Francois Pienaar, Graeme Smith and Zanele Mdodana.
“I decided that this time I just have to run the marathon myself,” joint race ambassador Pienaar confided. “I’ve run the London Marathon previously and now it is time for Cape Town. So I decided to challenge Graeme to race the 42km and I’m delighted that he has accepted.
“We have now created the ‘Captain’s Challenge’ and former South African netball captain, Zanele, has joined in. We are challenging sporting captains and captains of industry and politics to get running and sign up for Africa’s top marathon.”
“The elite race is an important part of the Cape Town Marathon and we were delighted when the top three finishers last year ran faster than 2 hours 10 minutes - the IAAF gold standard,” race director Janet Welham admitted. “And there will be a R100 000 incentive, beyond the R265 000 first prize, for the first male or female athlete to better Asefa Negeya’s 2hr 8min 41sec and Isabella Ochichi’s 2:30:20 respective course records.
“But just as important as running world-class times is the Run4Change legacy programme, embracing five pillars aimed at meaningful and positive change, comprising - to focus on Health and Wellness - to become the biggest single event fundraiser for charity - to promote peace and sport - to be a sustainable event as the world’s only ‘climate neutral’ marathon - to develop and empower South African athletes
“There are an estimated 10 million marathon runners around the world. We would like many of them to come to Cape Town to experience the magic of running an IAAF Gold Label event defined by the city, the people, the setting and the atmosphere. And our bucket-list wish is to become the seventh world mega-marathon alongside London, New York, Boston, Berlin, Chicago and Tokyo.”