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When the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon moved its race from October to May, before the Comrades, it left a gap in the calendar, which will be taken by the new Nelson Mandela Marathon.
It will be launched officially in Cape Town on Monday as part of the Mandela Legacy Sporting Series. The series will now include the annual Mandela Day Walk and Run at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on July 19, the Legacy Ride 4 Hope from Maputo to Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, from September 2-5, the Nelson Mandela Marathon Cape Town on October 18, and the Nelson Mandela Remembrance Walk and Run in Pretoria on December 5.
Bruce Parker-Forsyth, CEO of Galatso SA, said they saw a gap in October after the Cape Town Marathon moved their race and decided to stage their marathon then.
“We’ve taken the Cape Town Marathon slot and I think the idea is that we will work with the Cape Town Marathon and Comrades. The timing of our marathon makes it the perfect qualifier, so that’s what we are working towards,” Parker-Forsyth told journalists on Tuesday.
“The idea of the Nelson Mandela Marathon is to remember and honour the values of the former state president as a value-based event, not necessarily based on times and records.
Parker-Forsyth said the organisers were planning to have more than 20,000 entries for all the races.
“We have a 42km, for which we are expecting about 10,000 entries, and for the half-marathon about 8,000. Then we have a 10km, (about 3,000) and a 5km, also around 3,000,” he said.
“So, we are looking at more than 20,000 entries.”
He said they would bring in elite athletes from around the world to help make the race a success.
“We will be represented by 120 athletes. In that stable, several top athletes will be invited to run in the Nelson Mandela Marathon.”
Sowetan
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