Sanlam Cape Town Marathon is burning bright five weeks before lift-off

by Stephen Granger

Big name athletes bound for Cape Town, an inaugural world-class ‘formula one’ wheelchair race, a Comrades Marathon champion signed to run the Cape Town Trail Marathon and the power of the event to change lives provided some of the fireworks at the ‘forty days to go’ Sanlam Cape Town Marathon media launch in a city hotel on Tuesday morning (6 September).

Sydney Mbhele, Sanlam’s Brand chief executive reflected on the nine-year partnership with the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. “The journey and growth of the event have been nothing short of phenomenal! As Africa’s largest non-banking financial services company, partnering with Africa’s sole Gold Label Status marathon and Abbott World Marathon Major Candidate event makes sense.  

“Our theme for this year’s marathon is ‘African Champions Unite,’ Mbhele continued. “We are privileged to have champions from across the continent competing.  African runners have a history of taking top titles around the world. It makes total sense that we create an Abbott World Marathon Majors event on our home soil. We want these world class athletes to achieve their personal best with their home crowd watching.” 

Stephen Mokoka is South Africa’s leading road athlete for more than the past decade. When Mokoka races, his competitors take note and the announcement that he will defend his title in Cape Town in October will have made its mark.

One athlete who may be up for the fight, however, is last year’s runner-up, Gebru Redahgne of Ethiopia. In the lead group in the final stages of last year’s Cape Town Marathon, Redahgne was one of five who fell victim to two significant surges by Mokoka, and the Ethiopian will be looking to turn the tables on Mokoka this year.

Following stellar performances in recent months, which included a personal best of 2:05:58 in Barcelona in May and a 1:00:57 half marathon in April, also in Barcelona, Redahgne will likely prove a stern test for Mokoka and at 22 years he has the makings of another Ethiopian super-star in years to come.

Two other sub-2 hr 7 min marathoners from Ethiopia, Gebretasdik Abraha and Abdi Kabede, will also be strong contenders, with personal best times of 2:06:23 and 2:06:43 respectively, while Rio Olympian, Sibusiso Nzima, provides a strong domestic challenge to Mokoka.

Ethiopians dominate the elite women’s field, with Meseret Dinke  (2:25:12) the strong favourite to take the title. The 25-year-old is at the top of her game, having run her marathon best at Valencia last December and her half marathon of 1:10:39 in Italy in 2019. Four months ago, she won the Geneva Marathon in a fast 2:26:22 and she looks to have what it takes to challenge Lydia Simiyu’s 2:25:44 race record and take advantage of the attractive record incentive on offer.

Several other east Africans will ensure she has company through much of the race, with her compatriot Medina Armino (2:26:12 in winning the 2020 Xiamen Marathon in China) and Kenyans Judith Cherone (2:27:23) and Marion Kibor (2:28:30 – second to Dinke in this year’s Geneva Marathon) also making the trip to Cape Town.

South Africans Stella Marais and Jenet Mbhele will be looking to improve their standing in international marathoning, although it would appear doubtful that either could threaten the podium on this occasion. 29-year-old Tshwane chartered accountant, Stella Marais, showed her predilection for racing marathons in Cape Town with a superb victory in the Cape Peninsula Marathon in February this year, finishing 8^th overall in 2:38:22, just a minute outside Monica Drogemoller’s 32-year-old race record.

Umzimkhulu Striders runner from KZN, Mbhele (27), surprised many with her 2:43:07 gold medal in the ASA Marathon Championships in Durban in May this year, finishing third overall behind Kenyan Shelmith Muriuki (2:37:54) in the Durban International City Marathon, which hosted the domestic championship.

As fast as Mokoka and co are through 42km on the roads, they cannot compete for speed with the world’s leading wheelchair athletes.  Where 2 hours 20 minutes might be considered respectable for competitive marathoners on foot, the best wheelchair athletes aspire to times an hour faster.

A world-class wheelchair marathon will be held for the first time on the African continent as an important component of the festival of events which make up the 2022 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. A legend of wheelchair racing and veteran of a record 10 wheelchair titles in the Boston Marathon, South Africa’s Erst van Dyk, who was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for a ‘Sportsperson with a Disability’ for the year 2006, has helped to assemble some of the world’s best for October’s race.

“I had to leverage my friendship with (American) Aaron Pike to get him to come to Cape Town!” joked Van Dyk. “But I’m so pleased he will be here. He’s definitely one of the best and just missed out on breaking 1 hr 20 min recently, which is the new magical mark for wheelchair athletes (the world record of 1:17:47 stands behind the name of Swiss athlete Marcel Hug, achieved last November in Japan).

“Rafa (Botello) from Spain is (1:22:09 best) one of the most-sponsored athletes around and is strongly pro-South Africa while Mexicans Fidel Zepeda (1:28:36) and Alfonso Solorio (1:29:19) will ensure a really classy field.

“In the women’s competition British athlete, Eden Rainbow-Cooper (second at the Commonwealth Games this year) is a strong athlete and favoured to win in Cape Town, while her compatriot Shelly Woods, Mauritian Noemi Alphonse, breast cancer survivor Magariet van den Broek of the Netherlands and the young and inspiring Vanessa de Souza of Brazil will ensure a competitive field.”

Of his own chances, Van Dyk is cautious. “It’s my 50^th birthday next year, and it becomes harder to keep up with younger athletes,” admitted Van Dyk. “But I’ll be racing the London Marathon on 2 October before Cape Town. I’ve struggled with long COVID this year but coming back gradually.  After London I will know where I am but in reality I won’t be a contender to win. I’m looking forward to mixing it up a bit in the chasing pack!”

But the Sanlam Cape Town is not just about the elites. Every participant in this year’s marathon will have a story to tell of his or her life challenges simply to make it to the start and none more so than eleven women who are part of adidas’ ‘Beyond My Impossible’ programme.

Adidas invited a group of eleven Cape Town women to come together to go ‘beyond their impossible’ and run their first-ever marathon under the guidance of well-known coach Kathleen Shuttleworth. Thirty-two-year-old television and radio celebrity, Zoe Brown, and twenty-seven-year-old Melomed hospital official Shaakirah Jaftha were at the launch to talk about the four months preparation – their ‘mission impossible’.

“I realised that my media work is what I do not who I am,” said Brown. “So I thought being part of this programme might help me to discover more about myself. At start of July I couldn’t run 10km. Now I’ve done 20km and we’re going to run 30km next weekend! I’ve realised that this sort of commitment doesn’t come without sacrifice, and I’ve needed to let some things go. I’ve learnt not to let the big mountains scare me – but to take one day at a time.”

For Japhta, running has been part of a healing process after her divorce. “I was married at 20 and divorced at 23 after two children when I discovered he was using drugs. So many conversations with the adidas ladies during our training runs have helped me enormously.

“I was very stressed about the huge challenge, but Coach Kathleen has helped me to become calmer and to make time for everything – kids to school, my own work in town, then fetching kids and fitting in training! It’s all about time management.  Social media takes so much time, but Coach Kathleen encouraged us to put away our phones!  Now I know that whatever you put your mind to, you will be able to achieve it.”

Shuttleworth has invested body and soul – and much of her time – into the group and is buoyed over what they have managed to achieve already.

“A few have had to overcome personal struggles – there’s a lot of past depression and anxiety,” reflected Shuttleworth. “We are gradually hearing their stories. The big thing is that they’ve found a community which supports them and that running sets them free.

“Most of them are well qualified – we have lawyers, doctors, engineers – a total mix. It is really a phenomenal group. Most have been doing so much for others for years and now they are doing something for themselves for the first time. They are re-discovering themselves, learning to dream again and unlocking their dreams as they run.”

Race Director Renee Jordaan can’t wait to implement their long-time planning on 15 and 16 October. “The team has been working hard to tick all the boxes and we kick off with the EXPO at DHL Cape Town Stadium on Thursday 13 October,” said Jordaan. “Saturday will have a family atmosphere at the 5km and 10km Peace Runs where we care encouraging mums and babies in prams to compete – and the baby does not need a separate entry!

“As we work towards achieving world status in our planning, we have some exciting options we will be announcing in conjunction with the City including park and ride and park and walk facilities. The City has been a fantastic partner to help us achieve our goals – first the bridge (over Buitengracht Rd) was removed, then some new tweaks to improve the route still further. Now everyone’s asking ‘what next?’

“The 22km Sanlam Cape Town Trail has already sold out, but entries for all the other events are still open on our website at https://capetownmarathon.com/ before 12 September.”