← All eventsSanlam Cape Town Marathon
Africa's first Abbott World Marathon Major (the 8th, from 2027). A flat, fast, PB-friendly course from Cape Town Stadium past the V&A Waterfront, Bo-Kaap and Sea Point, with Table Mountain as a constant backdrop. Cool May weather and record-fast times. Next 23 May 2027.
Africa's first Abbott World Marathon Major, the eighth in the series from 2027. A flat road marathon through central Cape Town, with Table Mountain behind you the whole way.
Only around 85m of climbing all day. That is about as flat as a road marathon gets, and cool May autumn weather does the rest. Cape Town is built for personal bests.
No big hill to hide behind, no heat to blame. Run it as a target-time race, not a survival one. Honest, even pacing is paid straight back into your finish time.
Is Sanlam Cape Town Marathon for you?
- Runners chasing a PB. With a flat course and cool weather, a specific goal time is genuinely on the table, with no hills or heat to blame.
- Disciplined pacers. The flat profile punishes a fast start hardest, so it rewards runners who hold even splits the whole way.
- Athletes who have put in the volume. Fitness here is built on long runs of 28 to 35km and consistent weekly mileage, not speed work.
- First marathoners with a realistic goal. A friendly course, but still the full distance, so come with your fuelling and long runs rehearsed.
Training plan for Sanlam Cape Town Marathon
A training plan for Sanlam Cape Town Marathon isn't a generic base build. Beina reads the event's exact demands, looks at your specific profile and the time you actually have, and maps a highly adapted plan to the start line.
- 42.195km on closed urban roads that stay almost entirely flat, so the distance and your pacing are the whole test, not the terrain
- Cool 10 to 16C May weather removes the heat excuse and makes fast times realistic
- The race doesn't really start until 30km, where your endurance and fuelling decide the final 12km
- Any breeze off the Atlantic on the Sea Point coastal stretch is the one variable worth respecting
- Marathon-pace long run: 28 to 35km with 15 to 20km at goal pace, fuelled exactly as on race day
- Long tempo: 40 to 60 minutes continuous at marathon pace
- Threshold intervals: 3 to 4 x 3km at threshold pace with 90s recovery
- Medium-long run: 14 to 18km easy mid-week, volume without a full long run's recovery cost
- Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have
- Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond
- Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo
- One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet
