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OPINION: Forget labels and tags — the Cape Town Marathon is here to stay
The Cape Town Marathon is currently a World Athletics Elite Label road race.
Two-time winner Stephen Mokoka, who will defend his title this weekend, receives the champion’s trophy from former half-marathon world record holder Elana Meyer at the Cape Town Marathon. Picture: Roger Sedres/Gallo Images
Though the global series seems to be losing some steam, just the fact that Sanlam Cape Town Marathon organisers have grabbed the attention of the World Marathon Majors campaign is enough to show just how far the race has come over the last decade.
Since being relaunched in 2014, the Cape Town race has been elevated among the most prestigious 42.2km road running events on the international circuit.
READ MORE: All you need to know about the Cape Town Marathon
After receiving World Athletics Gold Label status – the first marathon race in Africa to do so – the race essentially lost this tag when the international calendar was reshuffled and the Cape Town race was relabelled as a World Athletics Elite Label event.
This tag left it one tier below the top-flight Elite Platinum Label races, within which lies the World Marathon Majors campaign.
But with officials assessing the Cape Town race on Sunday with an eye of including it in the WMM series, potentially bypassing the Elite Platinum tag altogether, this might not mean as much as it once did.
The WMM series, now in its 14th year, includes ‘big city’ races in New York, London, Boston, Berlin, Tokyo and Chicago, as well as the marathon races at the biennial World Championships and quadrennial Olympic Games.
Drop in prize money
But while the elite men and women participants were previously offered lucrative prize purses – with the winners once earning $500,000 (R9 million) – the campaign took a major knock when it was recently announced that this year’s winners would receive $50,000 (R900,000) instead of the $250,000 (R4.5 million) cheques initially offered.
Even if the elite WMM series falls apart, however – and perhaps a race in Africa will go some way in ensuring it doesn’t – the Cape Town Marathon has already earned its place among the best road races around the globe, just by getting a look in.
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And whatever tag or label it is given over the next few years, organisers have made it clear they intend on fighting for a spot at the top of the ladder.
So another spectacular road running festival can be expected in the Mother City this weekend, and it is likely to be one of many more to come.
