On Sunday 20 October, the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon moves towards its next step of becoming Africa’s first World marathon major to join the likes of the Boston, Tokyo, London, Chicago, Berlin and New York Marathons which make up the 6 major marathons in the Abbot series and as a candidate, enters its second year with officials from the series out in the Country to take ensure they tick all the boxes. With former world record holders and world champions taking part, the Nedbank running club has assembled a small, but compact elite team for Sunday.
Leading the men’s green dream team will be Nedbank running club Ethiopia’s Dagnachew Adere Maru who finished on the podium at the Cape Town Marathon in 2022 when he finished 3rd in 2:11:52. Maru followed this up with a 7th place last year in 2:12:19. Speaking through his coach Belay Hagos in Ethiopia, Maru wants to be back on the podium and run a time of under 2:10:00. “The training has been going well and I enjoy running in Cape Town,” said Maru. “I want to run a new personal best and would like to run faster than 2:10.”
Alongside Maru will be Nedbank running club Zimbabwe’s Moses Tarakinyu who has seen success in the Mother City before when he won the fiercely contested Two Oceans Half Marathon. Tarakinyu boasts a very impressive half marathon personal best of 01:01:38 and this year has been victorious at the Kazungula Half Marathon in Botswana where he ran 01:03:41.
South African George Kusche will be making his marathon debut. A standout on the track in the NCAA American college system, Kusche has since returned home to South Africa, taking to the roads, and already having an impressive showing. Finishing 3rd at the Two Oceans Half Marathon in April in which was his half marathon debut, Kusche has also clocked 28:50 for 10km this year and the 26-year-old moves up in distance, hungry for success.
“We have put together a small but compact team for this year’s marathon and I am really excited to see what athletes like Moses and George can do, going up in distance,” said Nick Bester, National team manager of the Nedbank running club. “The Cape Town Marathon brings out some of the best marathon runners on the planet and our men and ladies are looking forward to being part of the action and also running fast times.”
In the ladies’ race, the Nedbank running club Ethiopian duo of Kassaye Agimas Wubu and Alemenesh Herpha Guta join South Africa’s Deanne Laubscher in the elite women’s field. Guta was the winner of last year’s Lagos Marathon which offers $50 000 prize money and is highly competitive. With that performance, she looks to Cape Town to further her profile and run a very fast time. Laubscher is an ultra-runner who has represented South Africa at the World 100km championships and will also be looking to sharpen her speed and run a quick marathon.
The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon takes place on Sunday 20 October, and you can catch the Nedbank running club green dream team athletes LIVE in action on SuperSport from 05:50am.