Elana wants City race to be on par with London Marathon
THE CELEBRATIONS are over and the dust has started to settle on another outstanding Mother City sporting event in the shape of the Cape Town Marathon over the weekend, and already the anticipation is building to ensure an even better event in 2018.
Over 20 000 participants from all over the world took part in the marathon, Cape Town Peace 10km Road Race, the Peace Trail Runs over 22km and 12km and a 5km fun run in perfect conditions.
Almost 8 000 completed the marathon with an average finish time of 4hr 42min 22sec, while 6 673 completed the 10km race.
The fourth edition of the marathon in its current form was completed under the watchful gaze of several international distance running agencies, including the IAAF and the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS), both of which expressed enthusiasm for the success of the event.
“You must realise that we are going to dream big. And our vision is still to join London, New York, Boston, Chicago, Berlin and Tokyo in the club of world mega-marathons,” race ambassador, Elana Meyer enthused yesterday.
“That may seem a huge challenge, but when you look at the partnerships we have developed, I am confident that we can do so.”
Race director, Janet Welham was enthusiastic about the marathon’s success. “We have a number of things to celebrate and a few challenges to deal with for the future”, Welham admitted.
“Challenges for next year, as the race continues to grow, will be to continue to work with the City towards full road closure during the marathon and we will need to look at the possibility of running the 10km race on the Saturday.”
But the standards have to be maintained in order to secure Gold Label status in future years. That includes signing on the requisite number of IAAF gold standard athletes to compete in the event and tight organisation in all aspects of the event. A new submission will be required to the IAAF by December for consideration of the renewal of Gold Label status for 2018.