Some of Cape Town’s biggest diamonds have been found in and around Hopetown and the Northern Cape town’s latest gem, Arthur Jantjies, sparkled in racing to victory in and exciting finish to the inaugural Nelson Mandela Marathon in Cape Town today (Sunday 18 October).
Ethiopian athlete, Bize Beyira Negasa, had no serious rival for line honours and the R225 000 first prize in the women’s race.
Twenty-five thousand runners took part in the marathon and its companions – the Slave Route Challenge Half marathon, 10km and 5km races – and the race, which brought road racing riches and razzmatazz to an early Sunday morning city centre, looks certain to take its place among the City’s most prestigious events for years to come.
And the pre-race announcement that Paris, The Hague, Berlin, Atlanta and Nairobi will host Nelson Mandela races next year, stepping stones towards the second Nelson Mandela Marathon in Cape Town next October, adds further lustre to what has already become a global series of note.
Sport at the highest level is largely centred on the cut and thrust of competition and the outcome of the contest, but the context of the Nelson Mandela Marathon, namely celebrating the extraordinary life of one of Africa’s finest leaders and sharing the values he held most dearly is equally important, if not more so.
“Nelson Mandela believed that sport could unite people,” Nelson Mandela race ambassador and running legend, Dr Paul Tergat, said. “We have an opportunity to continue Mandela’s legacy through connecting cities and communities through running and sharing his values of courage, dignity, equality, unity and freedom.”
Jantjies’ breakthrough race came in April this year when he upset the pre-race favourites to win the 56km Two Oceans Marathon and he continued his love affair with Cape Town’s marathons this morning with an impressive win in 2 hrs 15 min 14 sec, four minutes inside his previous best time.
The manner of Jantjies’ victory makes him a worthy winner of the inaugural race, displaying a courage of which Mandela would have been proud, not shrinking from setting the pace upfront, even into a head wind, until the climax of the race.
“It went very well,” Jantjies said “There were a lot of corners and the wind was blowing but we managed it!
“I did not rely on my own strength to win the race but I put on the armour of God to win today. And I really felt the support from home – the people of Hopetown are so supportive.
“I kept saying to myself to be patient and stay fresh for the last two kilometres and that worked out in the end.”
Jantjies gives credit to his coach, John Hamlett, and his recent eight-week training block at the high-altitude camp in Dulstroom in Mpumalanga. “I really enjoyed training there and even managed some training runs with (fellow Two Oceans Marathon champion) Gerda Steyn, who was there at the same time.”
Several former Comrades and Two Oceans Marathon winners lined up at the Strand Street start this morning, adding depth to the field and 25 runners were still together as the lead pack passed through halfway in 1 hr 09 min 40 sec.
Jantjies, Zimbabwean Moses Tarakinyu and Siboniso Sikhakhane were setting the pace up front and an injection of pace after halfway quickly reduced to the lead pack to nine through 25km, six through 34km and just three – Jantjies, Tarakinyu and Lesotho’s Tsepo Ramashamole – to contest the final two kilometres.
Jantjies surged again and opened a gap as the athletes turned into the Heerengracht before racing away to a hard-fought 10 second win over Ramashamole, with Tarakinyu third, a further 10 seconds back.
Just five minutes separated the top ten finishers, with early leaders, Kenyan Benjamin Nyongesa and South African Sithembiso Mqhele rounding out the top ten in 2:19:47 and 2:20:16 respectively.
Lesotho’s Malineo Makhloko and Zimabwe’s Fortunate Chidzivo kept pace with Negasa in the early stages in a relatively light women’s contest, before Chidzivo, recently returned from injury, dropped behind at an aid station.
Negasa upped the pace through the Cape Town Stadium precinct in Green Point, 20km into the race. Makhloko was unable to respond, leaving the Ethiopian to race solo through the second half before winning by 10 minutes in 2:36:42. Chidzivo was third a further 13 minutes back.
Pretoria-based Kenyan, Stephen Ngigi Kangathe, won the Nelson Mandela Marathon Slave Route Challenge Half Marathon, remarkably racing to a personal best time of 1:03:58 on the testing route, which included a climb up the notorious ‘Koeksister Hill’.
Like the full marathon, the Slave Route Half Marathon route took in several city centre heritage features, evocative of the long struggle against colonialism and apartheid, including the Slave Bell in the Company Garden and the Auwal Mosque.
The Bo-Kaap Mosque, founded by Imam Abdullah Abdus Salaam, known as Tuan Guru (master teacher), was the first in South Africa. Like Mandela, the Imam also served time on Robben Island, having been imprisoned there for 13 years by the Dutch authorities.
Unlike the marathon route, which mercifully avoided the steepest road in road-running, the Half Marathon and 10km races included the full ‘Koeksister’ climb, forcing the majority of competitors to a walk.
Many years ago, the women of Bo-Kaap organised to hand out ‘koeksisters’ (a traditional South African sweet pastry) to runners in the Slave Route Half Marathon as they reached the top of the climb, after seeing participants struggling to complete the climb the previous year.
Race favourite, Durban-based Lesotho athlete, Jobo Khatoane, went to the front on the early hill climbs through District Six 2km into the race, but was soon joined by GoTymebank’s William Kaptein and Rowaldo Ratz.
Ratz led the Bo-Kaap climb and although he declined the koeksister, he enjoyed a small gap over Kangethe at the top, which he increased on the descent.
But Kanganthe, running in the colours of Nedbank, took over the race lead, passing 10km in 30:56, 20 seconds clear of the following trio of Kaptein, Ratz and Khatoane.
The Kenyan stepped on the gas on the homeward section along the Sea Point Promenade to race across the finish line at the City Hall 2 min 18 sec clear of GoTymebank Run Club athlete, Yanga Malusi, who beat his teammate, Ratz, to the silver medal by just three seconds in a sprint finish.
Weynalem Haftu Gebre made it a double win for Ethiopian women, with a convincing win in the half marathon, the 5000m track athlete racing to an impressive half marathon debut of 1:13:41, a full eight minutes clear of Kirsti Bell from the Free State Kovsies Club with Cape Town’s Mila Geldenhuys third, a further two minutes back.
2026 Nelson Mandela Marathon Results
Men’s Marathon Results
1 Arthur Jantjies: Pan African Resources Club (2:15:14); 2 Tsépo Ramashamole: Hollywood RC (2:15:24 | +10); 3 Moses Tarakinyu: Nedbank Int (2:15:34 | +20); 4 Simon Sibeko: Nedbank Running Club Central North West (2:15:59 | +45); 5 Siboniso Sikhakhane: Entsika AC CG (2:16:11 | +57); 6 Lebenya Nkoka: Maxed Elite (2:18:31 | +3:17); 7 Ntsebenza Nake: Phantane AC (2:18:53 | +3:39); 8 Tumelo Motlagale: Phantane AC (2:19:22 | +4:08); 9 Sithembiso Mqhele: Nedbank Club Kwa-Zulu Natal (2:19:47 | +4:33); 10 Benjamin Nyongesa: Nedbank Int (2:20:16 | +5:02)
Women’s Marathon Results
1 Bize Beyira Negasa: Nedbank Int (2:36:42); 2 Malineo Mahloko: Maxed Elite (2:43:53 | +7:11); 3 Fortunate Chidzivo: Nedbank Int (2:49:55 | +13:13); 4 Monique van der Merwe: Social Runners Club KZN (2:50:07 | +13:25); 5 Ethel Pangiso: Nedbank Int (2:53:24 | +16:42); 6 Ilse Marais: Nedbank Running Club CG (2:55:27 | +18:45); 7 Jenna Spooner: Maverick Athletic Club CGA (2:58:26 | +21:44); 8 Renata Vosloo: Ubora Athletics Club Johannesburg (2:58:59 | +22:17); 9 Gina Pocock: Ubora Athletics Club Johannesburg (3:06:01 | +29:19); 10 Samantha SHABALALA: FOURWAYS ROAD RUNNERS (3:06:56 | +30:14)
Slave Route Half Marathon Men’s Results
1 Stephen Ngigi Kangethe: Nedbank Int (1:03:58); 2 Yanga Malusi: Go Tyme Bank Run Club (1:06:16 | +2:18); 3 Rowhaldo Ratz: Go Tyme Bank Run Club (1:06:19 | +2:21)
Slave Route Half Marathon Women’s Results
1 Weynalem Haftu Gebre: Nedbank Int (1:13:41); 2 Kirsti Bell: Kovsies Club (1:21:52 | +8:11); 3 Mila Geldenhuys: Go Tyme Bank Run Club (1:23:45 | +10:04)
