New route, more incentives & same prize money for 2025 Durban International Marathon

In an attempt to be one of the fastest marathons on the African continent, organisers of the Durban International Marathon launched the 2025 edition of the race today (Thursday 26 September) and unveiled some changes which have been introduced in order to achieve said goal. One of the major changes apart from the fact that the race will cease to incorporate the Athletics South Africa (ASA) Marathon Championships, is a new route. The race which is schedule for 4 May, 2025 will no longer be run on the popular Durban promenade, which because of its congestion made it difficult for runners to navigate.

Speaking during the Press Conference at the Riverside Hotel, KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA) President Steve Mkasi explained the thinking behind the new look race. "We have changed the route slightly. It won't go through the promenade as it did before. The main reason for that is to create a fast race and we believe that the new route will provide that. There is no doubt we are on course for the fast times." 

Steve Mkasi (far right) poses with the top brass at the launch of the fifth edition of the Durban International Marathon. Photo Credit: Durban International Marathon.

Although the route may be different, the prize money remains the same for the fifth edition of the race at R75 000 for both the male and female winner. Mkasi says even though the winner's purse is unchanged, athletes will be rewarded for running fast times. "We haven't increased the prize money because we can't have a winner walking away with R150 000 yet the times are not fast. Our aim is to create winners that clock world class times. More incentives will be announced soon which include bonuses for a new SA record. It is something we are still working on with Athletics South Africa."

With the 42,2km qualifying standards for 2025 Tokyo Championships set at a stringent 2:06:30 for men and 2:23:30 for women, the organisers have introduced a scheme to reward the defending champions if they manage to run these specific times. If both 2024 champions Elroy Gelant and Cian Oldknow manage to reach these qualifying times during next year's Durban International Marathon for example, then they will walk away with R100 000 each, but if they run the times in any other race during qualifying period they will be only R15 000 richer. Also, if Gelant and Oldknow return to the race and obtain a top five finish in next year's race, they will each receive a R15 000 bonus.

Gelant shows off his gold medal after winning the 2024 Durban International Marathon. Photo Credit: Durban International Marathon.

This year the Duban International Marathon produced the second fastest men's winning time on the African continent, when Elroy Gelant ran a course record 2:09:32. Mkasi believes that the conditions are suitable for even faster running than that saying just as the race did for Zimbabwe's Isaac Mpofu in 2022 and Lesotho's Tebello Ramakongoana in 2023, so too will the 2025 edition of the race endeavour to do - offer a platform for local athletes to run fast times and springboard to international competition.

"We are glad with the way the race has grown in the past few years. In the past, our former winners from Isaac Mpofu, Tebello Ramakongoana have gone on to be the world class athletes. It shows that if athletes take their chances, then this race provides an opportunity to launch careers to greater heights. Next year, we are hoping to continue with that trend too. There are valuable ranking points on offer, so there is no doubt the race will attract some of the best athletes in the region. This is the reason we have opened the registration early so that we give people time to prepare."