Thabang Madiba and Prodigal Kumalo to race new Cape Town Marathon Trail event
Comrades Marathon gold medalist Prodigal Kumalo has confirmed that he will be one of the athlete lining up at the start of the latest addition to the trail running scene. Trail Runners across the country have welcomed the news that The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon has decided to collaborate with Ryan Sandes to introduce a new 46km Marathon, which will be run on Table Mountain National Park on October 16th, 2021.
Speaking to #TheTopRunner, Kumalo expressed his delight at seeing a trail race with such good prize money and is excepting tough competition on race day. "I'm excited to confirm that I'm one of the runners invited to take part in this exciting race in Cape Town," said the man who is a two-time Cape Town 100k Ultra Trail winner.
"This is good news to the trail running community if I can tell you. To see a race with good prize money like this shows some sponsors are still generous even in the times of Covid19 as it has hit most corporate companies. I'm expecting some fireworks on race day as the country's best trail runners will look to grab this big money." And PK as he is affectionately known, will have his work cut out to earn the R50 000 winners' purse because 2015 Skyrun African Champ Thabang Madiba has also confirmed his participation.
Madiba, he hopes this race will shine the spotlight on trail running in the country. The 38-year-old Garankuwa born athlete has already started to train hard for the big day. "Firstly, I must applaud Ryan (Sandes) for coming up with the good race like this," explains Salomon sponsored athlete. "Trail running in our country doesn't attract many sponsors so races like this bring hope. I've started to train hard in order to be fully prepared for race day. While it's not easy for me to mix running and working but I promise to give it all on race day," he said.