Durban Marathon to go ahead on 5th of September
Entries for the inaugural Durban International Marathon have finally opened. The race is scheduled to take place on the 5th of September and consists of the traditional 42km and 10km. The route guarantees runners a flat course while running around the beachfront promenade, while enjoying one of the warmest city's in South Africa.
The race is hosted by Phantane Athletics Club and will serve as the KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA) Marathon championships. Speaking to the #TheTopRunner Mdu Khumalo, who is the founder of Phantane said they are ready for race day, even though getting sponsors in a Covid economy was a challenge.
"There is no going back now. The race is finally here, especially now that the entries are open," said Khumalo. "The route is a good one especially for runners who love to run on a flat course. I won't lie to you, to organize a race in this period of Covid19 is an uphill battle since most companies are affected. Plus recent looting left many businesses in a desperate state to recover losses. But to see these sponsors that managed to put little to make an event possible is overwhelming."
The race has the top prize of R10 000 for the first 42km runner to cross the finish line with the race paying only the first top-five athletes. Meanwhile, for the 10km race, there is a guaranteed R2 000 for the winner. Khumalo's wish is to see the event hosted annually and has promised that the event will follow all Covid19 protocols.
"Since our country is under the scrutiny of Covid19 lockdown levels so we must follow them for the benefit of our runner's health," he explained. "So the race will be divided into batches which will have different start times. Each batch will have 100 runners so we looking at 200 runners to come to our event. In the future, we want to grow the race into the best in the province," he concluded. Entries range in price from R150 to R300 and runners can enter at http://www.durbanmarathon.co.za/