Cape Town Marathon passes the first Abbott assessment test

The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon might join the Abbott World Marathon Majors in two years’ time if passes its second stage of the candidacy process.

The marathon which is now celebrating 17 years of its existence, was assessed for the third time in October 2024 and met all the criteria set by the Abbott World Marathon Majors in order to pass stage one.

 Cape Town will now be required to meet the criteria for a second consecutive year when it stages its next marathon on October 19, 2025.

 If they pass this stage they will join TCS Sydney Marathon, which was announced as the seventh Abbott World Marathon Major on November 3 and will take place as a Major on August 31, 2025.

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 “Cape Town has continued its impressive progress since joining the candidacy process and we are thrilled that it has now met all of our criteria for the first time,” said AbbottWMM CEO, Dawna Stone.

 “We know how much the city, the country and the whole continent want the race to become Africa’s first Major, and they have taken a great step in the right direction.”

 Clark Gardner, the Cape Town Marathon CEO, stated: “We are obviously delighted to pass to the next stage and to enjoy the progress after a significant effort this year. I believe the key to passing this stage one was the collective effort from our team, the city, sponsors, service providers, participants and residents who have all bought into the benefits that an AbbottWMM would deliver to the city, country and continent.”

 AbbottWMM recently announced a new Nine Star medal will be introduced as the next milestone when two more races are added to the series.

 AbbottWMM has also committed to keeping the Six Star medal in place for runners who complete the original six AbbottWMM races of Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York.

 To help commemorate every runner’s journey and race achievements, AbbottWMM also introduced a commemorative coin for each race. Custom displays can be purchased to showcase the runner’s achievements from two races to all seven.

If Cape Town is successful in its second stage of evaluation, the collectible range would expand to recognize its race.