6 000 line up for 50th Peninsula Marathon

CAPE Town’s oldest standard marathon, the Cape Peninsula Marathon, celebrates its 50th anniversary tomorrow, with over 6 000 runners expected to take part in the 42km and 21km races along the traditional route between Green Point and Simon’s Town.

Celtic Harrier doyen Alex Jones founded the race in 1964, when it was first run, but a four-year “recess” between 1994 and 1997, when the race encountered organisational challenges, resulted in the 50-year celebrations being put on ice until this year.

With the exception of three years, the Peninsula has been run along the Main Road between Green Point and Simon’s Town. In 1984, in an attempt to beat the prevailing south-easterly winds, the direction was reversed and the marathon started in Simon’s Town. As luck would have it, the race morning was greeted by a rare summer north-westerly, and Varsity Old Boys athlete Ron Boreham again braved a headwind, before winning in 2:17:14.

The experiment was never repeated, but the route changed again in 2009 and 2010, when Cape Town stadium-related road construction in the Green Point area gave rise to a new circular route for the Peninsula, starting and finishing in Simon’s Town.

Celtic Harrier Dave Wassung took line honours in 1964 in 2:27:32. With some doubt over the course distance, Wassung ran the route again the next day with a measuring wheel and the accuracy was confirmed. After ‘Iron Man’ Willie Olivier improved Wassung’s mark by two seconds the following year, Wassung regained the title in 1966 in 2:26:41.

Gerhard Dekkers then took the record to 2:24:48, before a superb run by Olivier in 1968 took the mark to 2:20:21 – a record which stood until Lood Rabie, father of South Africa’s 2016 triathlon Olympian, Marie, broke the 2hr 20min barrier in 1974, winning in 2:19:23.

The race was held in early winter for the first 12 years – ideal for running conditions, with runners mostly enjoying a following wind. However, the need for a local qualifying marathon for Two Oceans and Comrades Marathons resulted in a move to February/March from 1976.

The year 1979 signalled the halcyon years of the Peninsula, with Bernard Rose racing to an impressive 2:14:41. For 14 years the cream of South Africa’s marathoners regarded the Peninsula as a “must do” race, with the winning time usually below 2hr 15min. After Rose had reduced his time and the course record to a world class 2:12:10 in 1983, Ernest Tjela, the only athlete to have won the title three times in succession, took the record to its current mark of 2:11:47 with his third victory in 1987.

Thompson Magawana (2:14:45 in 1988) and Isaac Tshabalala (2:14:12 in 1992) were other notable champions during this period.

Women were allowed official entry in 1975, with Ulla Paul the first winner in 3:52:00. Predictably this record also fell rapidly, and 15 years later Cape Town pharmacist, Monica Drogemoller, set the current race record of 2:37:19, just 27 seconds inside Pretoria athlete Adeline Joubert’s winning time in 1985.

Drogemoller is the only four-time winner, emulating her achievement in the Two Oceans Marathon, with other notable winners including Sonja Laxton (1981), Isavel RocheKelly (1982), Lindsay Weight (1986), Annette Falkson (1987), Elana Meyer (2001) and Tanith Maxwell (2004).

The feature of tomorrow’s race is likely to be the clash in the women’s competition between Comrades champion Charne Bosman (

and Jenna Challenor. Should conditions allow, Drogemoller’s 26- year- old record could come under threat.