The oldest running marathon in South Africa, the Balwin Sport Peninsula Marathon, moves up a gear on Sunday when it hosts the ASA South Africa Marathon Championships for the first time in its 57-year history.
The race was founded in 1964 by Alex Jones, and remarkably still follows the original route from Green Point to the naval sports’ fields in Simon’s Town.
Celtic Harrier runner, Dave Wassung, was the first winner in 2:27:32 – a surprisingly fast time for that era. People queried his time and to make sure that it was correct, Wassung actually measured the course with a wheel the following day confirming that all was in order!
Women ran the course for the first time in 1975 and the late Ulla Paul was the victor.
Monica Drögemoller is the only athlete to have won the event 4 times (1984, 1988, 1990, 1991) with Willie Olivier (1965, 1968 and 1969) and Ernest Tjela (consecutive years from 1985-1987) holding three wins apiece. Tjela’s 2:11:47 standing as the race record since 1987.
Khayelitsha pastor, Lindikhaya Mthangayi, narrowly missed out on the hattrick, finishing second to Sithembiso Mqele in 2023 after winning the previous two races.
The glory years of the Peninsula Marathon came between 1979 and 1991 during South Africa’s isolation from international athletics. The race, which follows the Main Road down the spine of the Peninsula, attracted the cream of South Africa’s marathon athletes.
Legendary names in South African marathon running, such as Tjela, Bernard Rose (who equalled the SA record with his 2:12:10 win at Peninsula in 1979), Gabashane Rakabaele, Willie Farrell, Thompson Magawana, Willie Mtolo and Isaac Tshabalala had their names engraved on the trophy during this period while female athletes of the calibre of Drögemoller, Sonia Laxton, Isavel Roche-Kelly, Beverley Malan, Adeline Joubert, Lindsay Weight and Annette Falkson took honours in the women’s competition.
A measure of just high the standard was at Peninsula during those years is the fact that not even David Tsebe, who won the Berlin Marathon in 1992 and was the world’s top-ranked marathoner that year, could win Peninsula, having been beaten into second place by Mtolo a year earlier.
With the country’s leading athletes seeking greener marathon pastures overseas, the standard inevitably dropped, although the interest in the race as a Two Oceans Marathon warm-up and qualifier remains strong. Since Namibian Luketz Swartbooi’s 2:16:12 win in 2006, Peninsula winners have dipped under the 2 hrs 20 min barrier only twice – Mthandazo Qhina’s 2:17:11 in 2012 and Lindikhaya Mthangayi’s 2:18:02 in 2020.
It’s not only the quality of athletes that determines the winning time, however. Prevailing conditions are all-important and when the south-easter is at its fiercest, hopes of fast times for the north to south-moving runners are literally blown away.
Elite athletes even succeeded in persuading the Celtic Harriers’ organisers to switch the race around in 1984, with local athlete, VOB’s Ron Boreham, chasing a sub 2hrs 12 min time. Ironically that year proved the exception to the rule and Boreham battled into an unseasonal north-wester, eventually winning in Green Point in 2:17:14.
Thankfully the experiment has never been repeated, and runners are typically treated to a scenic final 15km along the sea-shore between Muizenberg and Simon’s Town.
“Interest in the Peninsula has been higher than ever,” said race director, Glen Muller. “We reached capacity of 7500 six weeks before the scheduled cut-off for entries as runners scrambled for a place on the start line. Hopefully we can work with the City to allow for a bigger field in future for this special road-race.
“In addition, we’ve had more entries from international runners than ever before and with Balwin on board and live television coverage for the first time, we have seen a greater commercial interest in the race. It’s quite a balancing act trying to remain true to the principles of the founder, Alex Jones, while moving ahead to keep abreast of modern trends in marathon races.
“Having a point-to-point race brings with it logistical and management challenges and we will have 450 marshals and 120 traffic policeman along the way to ensure the smooth-running of the race.”
Apart from the growing local and international interest, the assignment by Athletics South Africa of the Peninsula Marathon as their national championships is a feather in the cap of organising club Celtics and Western Province Athletics.
“I chose Peninsula for our national champs because of its reputation for being a fast course,” said chairperson of the ASA road running commission, Enoch Skosana. “Historically athletes have produced impressive times on this course which I believe will be beneficial for those preparing or looking to qualify for the World Champs in Tokyo later this year.
“Additionally, the Peninsula Marathon is well-liked by athletes and having hosted numerous races over the years it has consistently delivered a well-organized competitive event.”
Since joining the Balwin Properties stable in recent years, in conjunction with the Dolphins Coast Marathon in Durban, the Jeppe Marathon in Johannesburg and the Phobians Marathon in Pretoria, the Peninsula has again built up a head of steam and some of South Africa’s most experienced road runners will be racing in the Mother City tomorrow.
New national and Peninsula champions will be crowned this weekend, with neither George athlete, Lloyd Bosman, nor Potchefstroom-based Adele Broodryk defending their race titles. And last year’s national champions, Elroy Gelant and Cian Oldknow, whose gold medals at the ASA championships in Durban aided their path to the Olympic Marathon in Paris, will also be absent tomorrow.
In Gelant’s absence (he finished fifth in 2:12:30 at the Hong Kong Marathon last week), Adam Lipschitz will line up as the firm favourite in the colours of KwaZulu-Natal Athletics.
Lipschitz was the fastest South African over the 42km distance last year, having raced to a personal best of 2:08:54 in Valencia in December. His strongest challenges could come from a Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA) team that includes Gladwin Mzazi, a four-time former World Student Games gold medallist, as well as the likes of Kabelo Melamu and Bennet Seloyi.
Never discount local athletes, however, and WP athlete, Duane Fortuin, has the ability to challenge for a podium position on his day.
The women’s race appears wide open, with many of the country’s leading athletes absent from the field. Former With defending champion Cian Oldknow missing from the entry list in the women’s race, along with the rest of the country’s top marathon runners who are focusing on other goals in the early stages of the season, the battle for the national title will be wide open.
Twenty-two years ago, Charne Bosman raced to an impressive 2:42:56 victory at Peninsula and the former Comrades Marathon champion returns to her happy hunting ground as a master athlete in the colours of Gauteng North with a potential shot at a podium position.
Other contenders include Bosman’s Athletics Gauteng North (AGN) teammates Patience Puleng Khumalo and nine-time Comrades Marathon gold medallist Yolande Maclean (AGN), as well as KZNA athlete Makhosazane Mhlongo.
“For many of us, I believe we are going to be part of another historic day of the ASA Marathon Championships,” said James Moloi, the President of Athletics South Africa.
“We thank the organisers of the Peninsula Marathon and the Western Province Athletics for this collaboration which has allowed us to host the national championships alongside this historical coastal race.
“We will be witnesses to an exciting mix of road-running where other runners will be chasing titles and jostling for spaces in the national team in the championship contest. Then in the open race, there will be a chase for positional finishers where money is the main incentive. Lastly, there is the Masters Marathon Championships, where national titles are also the main attraction.”
World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon told the Paris Olympics media last year that they had moved away from ‘fast and flat’ courses at championship events, preferring courses and conditions which challenge a wider range of distance-running skills. The Paris Marathon route was the most testing Olympic Marathon to date.
In similar vein, Cape Town’s south-easterly wind, aka the ‘Cape Doctor’ which is predicted to blow tomorrow, will provide that additional challenge, and will likely make the championship medals hard-earned prizes.
The marathon gets underway at Green Point at 05h15 with leaders expected at the Simon’s Town Naval Sports Ground around 07h30. The half marathon starts at the Bergvliet Sports Club at 07h00.
