A race that celebrates the rich heritage of the southern suburbs is how one could best describe The Landmarks Half Marathon.
The 21.1km race, now in its 18th year, takes place on Sunday November 3. The half marathon organised by the Western Province Cricket Club (WPCC), in association with SANParks, starts at the cricket club in Rondebosch, passes by landmarks such as Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, Rondebosch Common and Josephine’s Mill and ends back at the club.
WPCC has partnered with Woolworths and the Sport Science Institute of South Africa (SSISA) for the MySchool Move 4 Your Health 6km fun run/walk – which will see about 700 children from poor communities taking part in the event.
WPCC chairman and race director Ted Vickery said what started out as a fun run some years ago had evolved into what it is today, with proceeds of the half marathon donated annually to Friends of the Children’s Hospital.
Participants are also encouraged to take along a teddy bear or toys, which are also donated to the hospital.
“It started as a 10km race and later we changed it to a half marathon. We wanted to grow the marathon and decided to incorporate the landmarks in the southern suburbs,” said Mr Vickery.
The Newlands Brewery, which celebrates its 200th birthday next year, was selected as the landmark which will be represented on this year’s medal.
Some of the other landmarks include: Mosterts Mill, UCT, Rhodes Memorial, Newlands Forest, Newlands Rugby Stadium – which was last year’s landmark – and Barristers Grill in Newlands.
Mr Vickery said support for the half marathon had gradually grown over the years with an average 10% increase yearly. “Every year, we try and do better than the year before, and we have had a loyal support base. Our T-shirts and medals get better every year and it is something we are proud of.”
Mr Vickery said they had had participants from Canada taking part last year and this year there would be a woman coming from Argentina. He said they had also had regular runners from Johannesburg who came down every year for the race. “People generally love the marathon and have described it as an iconic race,” he said.
Online entries have closed, however, you can enter on the day at the start venue. The 21.1km marathon starts at 6am and the fun run at 6.45am.