Elana to work her ‘golden touch’ on IAAF
THE dust has barely settled after the successful Cape Town Marathon over the weekend and already Elana Meyer is looking to landing the biggest prize in marathons – that of gaining IAAF Gold Label status for the 2017 event.
“It is great to see such fast times being run on SA soil, which shows how much value a race of this stature brings to the sport at domestic level,” race ambassador and former world half marathon record-holder Meyer said yesterday.
“The success of the race on Sunday, both in the 2:08.41 winning time and the impressive depth in both the men’s and women’s fields will help us in our quest to bring gold label status to Cape Town.”
Meyer has a reputation of making her dreams come true, and few can doubt that her “golden touch” will again work its magic and ensure that Cape Town becomes the first African destination to enjoy gold label status – something which will ensure that Cape Town becomes a destination for the world’s elite in the coming years.
“With the top three going under 2hrs 10min on Sunday and a 2:08 winning time in the record books, Cape Town will certainly start to attract the big names in marathon running,” Meyer said.
“Many of the East Africans and our own local runners were emphatic about the advantages of having a worldclass marathon opportunity in Africa.”
Gold status, awarded to 32 top world marathon destinations in 2016, does not come easily and Meyer and race director Janet Welham will have to be on top of their game to convince the IAAF that Cape Town is worth the status.
Apart from having to demonstrate that five men and five women, who had attained individual gold label status (or did so at the event), from a
With the top three going under 2hrs 10min on Sunday and a 2:08 winning time in the record books, Cape Town will certainly start to attract the big names in marathon running.” - Elana Meyer
total of five different countries competed in the Cape Town Marathon, many other criteria have to be met. “These were all ticked off on Sunday. I’m confident we can demonstrate that we fulfilled all the criteria,” Meyer added. “While we were just short of the necessary gold level criteria in the women’s competition, we can motivate that the proximity to the Olympic Marathon was a reason for this, and the fact is that we excelled and surpassed standards in respect of the depth of quality in both competitions.”
Technical and marketing criteria include a course of certified accuracy to IAAF standards, IAAF standard timing and distribution of results on the internet, having a bigscreen TV at the finish for live coverage, full road closure for the event, IAAF standard medical and anti-doping standards and refreshment stations and all logistical issues to IAAF standards. A detailed application for gold label status has to be forwarded to the IAAF by December and the decision on gold label status races will be known before the new year. In addition to the above, the bid will emphasise Cape Town’s important historical and heritage assets and the city’s commitment to environmental sustainability, something which Welham and Meyer believe should be an important gold label criteria in future.
In the end, the fact that Cape Town outclassed two other gold label marathons run on the same weekend could convince the world road running bosses.
The Sydney Marathon, run on the same day, was won by Japanese athlete Tomohiro Tanigawa in 2:12:13 with their 10th runner clocking 2:27:42. Kenyan Waldon Kirui placed 10th in Cape Town in 2:16:25.
And while Kenyan Makda Harun’s winning time in Sydney at 2:32:22 was faster than that of Cape Town winner Tish Jones, the 10th runner in Syndey clocked 3:04:59, compared with Ethiopian Vicoty Chepkemboi’s 2:45:02.
Similarly the results of the gold label Beijing Marathon, run on Saturday, compared poorly to those of Cape Town, something which should count in the Mother City’s favour when the golden allocations are made in December.