When the Soweto Marathon was nearly lost

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the event’s recent success, measured this week by the massive field announced by the Old Mutual Soweto Marathon organisers, is that if things had gone another way when it hit rock-bottom six years ago, the race wouldn’t even exist.

It is testament to the solid foundation of the annual event that the proud traditions of the race have not only survived, but the Soweto Marathon has become a key roleplayer in the country’s most recent road running boom.

Other races are playing crucial roles too, with the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon securing IAAF Gold Label status, the FNB Run Your City series attracting some of the best distance runners in the world, the Spar Grand Prix campaign lifting the standard of local women’s road running, and the Comrades and Two Oceans

ultra-marathons selling out in record time again this year.

While it has some handicaps which prevent it from reaching record status, however, the Soweto Marathon has claimed its place as perhaps the most attractive of South African road races.

Taking into account all the aspects which make a road running event a potential success or failure, the Soweto race is a jack-ofall-trades, albeit a master of none.

One of the problems it simply cannot overcome is that the race is held at altitude, and regardless of how hard they try, the organisers are unlikely to ever convince the International Association of Athletics Federations to give it the status awarded to the Cape Town Marathon or the CitySurfRun in Durban, which are held at sea level and produce fast times at the top end of their respective fields.

To their credit, the Soweto organisers have tried to counter @wesbotton this, claiming the relatively challenging course is not as tough as it looks on paper, but altimeters and race profiles don’t lie.

At the other end of the extreme, though the Soweto race may be held on a challenging course at altitude, it cannot put up a fight when it’s placed in a ring with races like Comrades and Two Oceans, which are undoubtedly more brutal due to their extended distances and rolling hills.

Similarly, regardless of how they look at it, the Soweto organisers will never be able to attract the number of runners to the sport boasted by the Spar Women’s series, unless of course it is expanded into a national campaign, and that wouldn’t make much sense for a race which has a heart that beats in the soul of Soweto.

Nonetheless, the 40 000 entries announced this week for the Soweto race (including all distances on offer) fell narrowly short of the national record 40 940 participants who took to the road at last week’s Spar Women’s race in Centurion, and the masses have clearly shown their support.

Nothing has been able to break the Soweto Marathon.

When the organisers ran out of water some years ago, local residents came to the rescue with hoses and buckets, and when the Soweto Marathon Trust has lost corporate support, it has managed to rope in the sponsorship it needs.

In 2009, the race lost its headline sponsor when Nedbank ended its backing of an annual road running series, but the race was able to recover.

In 2013, the race faced another hurdle when it was cancelled after the former Athletics South Africa board, the Soweto Marathon Trust and the SABC had been locked in a battle over broadcast rights.

Just six years later, however, the Soweto Marathon has become the largest event in the country featuring a race over the Olympic 42km distance, and it remains by far the biggest race held in a township.

It may not have label status, lightning fast times or record fields, but the Soweto Marathon has a history and a vibe which is matched by no other.

It has emerged from the ashes to establish its place as the mother of South African road races, and while that is little more than a matter of opinion, the numbers will make it hard to disagree.