Cape Town was announced as the eighth Abbott Marathon Major on Wednesday, after successfully completing its evaluation process and becoming the first marathon in Africa to be designated as a world major.
The race now joins Boston, Tokyo, London, Sydney, Berlin, Chicago and New York as one of the elite marathon destination and comes less than two years after Sydney was revealed as a major.
“After watching the race grow in size and stature during its candidacy and also seeing the resilience and dedication of the team lead so wonderfully by Clark Gardner, Africa’s first Major has finally arrived,” AbbottWMM CEO Dawna Stone said. “The unique culture, the welcome from the people of the city and the wonderful setting Cape Town provides will bring a whole new dimension to our series. I know runners in Africa and across the world will have a phenomenal experience at this race.”
Cape Town was in the late stages of its consideration as a major last year when the race was canceled due to high winds but was staged last month with no issues. Mohamed Esa surged to a 2:04:55 victory, while Dera Dida won the women’s race in 2:23:18. The event also featured Eliud Kipchoge, currently on a marathon world tour, who finished 16th overall in 2:13:29.
“This is a moment generations of African runners have waited for, and it belongs to everyone who carried us here,” Sanlam Cape Town Marathon CEO Clark Gardner said. “We are proud to take our place among the world’s greatest marathons, and we look forward to welcoming the global running community to Cape Town in 2027.”
Shanghai was also in the running as a candidate city and will continue its evaluation process with it hosts its next marathon on December 6.
With eight races, the major marathon schedule is now evenly divided between spring and fall seasons. Cape Town was previously held in October but moved to May in preparation of being officially selected by Abbott.
The Abbott majors group was founded in 2006 and participants who completed all six of its original races (Boston, Tokyo, London, Sydney, Berlin, Chicago and New York) were presented a commemorative “Six Star” medal. With Sydney and now Cape Town on board it has not been revealed if a new medal is in the works but Abbott shortly after Sydney was upgraded that would continue the popular six race program since many participants were well into completing the original races.
But with Cape Town now standing as major, Abbott also revealed on Wednesday that 1,994 people qualify as eight star participants. They were previously awarded provisional stars, and had completed last year’s Sydney Marathon, as Cape Town was still under the review process in its candidacy to be come a major.
As a push toward nine majors gets even closer, Abbott said that eventually a Nine Star program and medal will be created.
