Major boost for Durban International Marathon as top runners head for the coast

The 2024 edition which will be staged on 28 April marked its 30-day countdown with a press briefing at the Riverside Hotel in Durban on Tuesday.

This is the fourth instalment of the event and is the only race in KZN which enjoys World Athletics Label Road Race status.

As it did in its last two editions, the event will double up as Athletic South Africa’s Marathon Championships. There will be another layer added to the race this time round with it also playing host to the Confederation of African Athletics Region 5 Championships.

A contingent of East African runners will look to make the most of the flat route which begins in Prospecton and ends at People’s Park outside the iconic Moses Mabhida Stadium. 

Tigabu Gebramariam (ETH) and Bernard Rotich (KENYA) with personal bests of sub 2:10 to their names are expected to lead the pack. 

There’s also the allure of Olympic qualification with the Paris Games just a few months away. 

“There is a lot going on in this edition of the race. There’s lots of motivation for our athletes to run good times. We could very well see a South African runner winning the national title and booking a ticket to the Olympics on the same day,” Race and Local Organizing Committee Chairman Steve Mkasi said.

Winners will walk away with R75 000 with organisers also announcing a time bonus structure if the course record falls by stipulated markers. 

The men and women’s records were set in last year’s race with Tebello Ramakongona and Annie Bothma laying down times of 2:10:11 and 2:30:31 respectively. 

“We have put down a structure to incentivise faster times come race day,” Mkasi said .

“We will award the winner with R2500 if the record is beaten by a minimum of 30 seconds. Bettering it between 31-60 seconds will see the runner claim R5000. Up to 90 seconds will be a R10 000 bonus. If the winner improves on the record by 2 minutes they will receive R20 000. R30 000 will be paid if they go faster than 3 minutes on the previous record,” Mkasi explained. 

So, at full tilt, winning runners stand the chance to walk away with a total of R105 000.00.

Entries have been steadily streaming in for both the marathon and the 10km race. 

“We encourage runners to take advantage of a route which is incredibly forgiving. This is a race for everyone, whether you are new to town running or chasing a ticket to the Olympics, Mkasi concluded.