From Thugwane to Xaba – Cape Town Marathon’s history of racing excitement and drama

The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon (SCTM) has seen several thrilling finishes over its 32-year history and with marathon super-star, Eliud Kipchoge, heading a glittering line-up of leading marathoners in the 33^rd running of race on Sunday, there’s every chance of another ‘down-to-the-wire’ finish in both categories.

With eight runners boasting faster marathon best times than Abdisa Tola’s 2:08:16 race record, set in 2024, and a record first prize of $35 000 (almost R600 000) up for grabs, competition in the men’s race is likely to be intense with seconds, rather than minutes, expected to separate the podium places.

Many will recall the last-gasp victory by Ethiopian Adane Kebede Gebre over three-times champion, South Arica’s Stephen Mokoka, three years ago with just five seconds separating the two at the finish – the marathon’s equivalent of a sprint photo-finish.

But the closest Cape Town Marathon finishes date back to the 1990s, when the race started and finished at Mutual Park in Pinelands and doubled as the national marathon championships for seven successive years.

The closest and one of the most memorable came in 1996 in the race’s third year. With Olympic selection at stake, diminutive Mpumalanga marathoner, Josiah Thugwane, held off Pretoria athlete, Nixon Nkodima, by just three seconds in 2:11:46 to book the final place on the marathon team for the Atlanta Olympics.

The rest is history, as Thugwane went on to win the treasured gold medal in Atlanta by exactly the same margin as he had enjoyed in Cape Town five months earlier, his winning 2:12:36 three seconds quicker than Korean’s Lee Bong-Ju silver medal effort.

The millennial Cape Town Marathon delivered a showstopper, with Central Gauteng athlete, Johannes Maremane, holding off his Johannesburg-based teammate, Joshua Peterson, by four seconds to win the 2000 edition in 2:11:15 – the race record at the time.

Maremane and Peterson, who went on to win the Two Oceans 56km later that year, remain the third and fourth fastest South Africans at the Cape Town Marathon, with only Stephen Mokoka (on three occasions) and Elroy Gelant having run faster.

Gauteng North’s Bethuel Netshifhefhe finished third in 2:11:44 that year, completing the podium inside 2 hrs 12 min, a feat which would not be accomplished again for another 16 years.  

When it was finally achieved in 2016, 28-year-old Ethiopian, Asefa Mengistu Negewo led a competitive field home in 2:08:41 – the fastest and highest quality marathon ever in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In a thrilling finish, Negewo won in 2:08:41, with Kenyans Emmanuel Tirop (2:08:47) and Barnabas Kiptum (2:09:21) crossing the line in close formation with just 40 seconds separating the podium positions, all inside 2 hrs 10 min.

Just five seconds separated the top two past the post in the 2019 and 2023 races – the joint third closest Cape Town Marathon finishes.

Kenyans Edwin Koech (2:09:20) and Daniel Muteti (2:09:25) ruled the roost in 2019 with Moroccan Mohamed Ziani’s third place in 2:09:29 making it the tightest podium in the history of the race. Just 9 seconds separated first and third.

In 2023, Ethiopian Adane Kebede Gebre thwarted Mokoka’s bid for a fourth title, winning by five seconds in windy conditions in 2:11:28 in what might be remembered as Cape Town Marathon’s best ever in its first thirty years.

“What a fabulous race, this is incredibly exciting,” shouted television commentator, ultra-distance legend, Bruce Fordyce, as ten athletes jostled for the lead less than two kilometres from the finish.

Kebede and Mokoka were joined on the podium by Kenyan Bernard Kipkorir, 23 seconds off the winning time, just seconds ahead of his compatriot Joshua Kipkemboi Kogo and Zewudu Hailu Bekele, of Ethiopia.

Remarkably just 51 seconds separated the top seven with four Ethiopians, three Kenyans, two South Africans and a Zimbabwean bagging top ten positions in a celebration of African marathon running at its finest.

While women’s fields lacked the depth of their male counterparts in the early years, less than 20 seconds have separating the top two on four occasions.

The fourth closest finish in the women’s competition came in 2009, with Zimbabwean Sharon Tavenga outsprinting South Africa’s Tshihiwa Mundalamo in the final 500m to win by 16 seconds in the relatively pedestrian, by today’s standards, 2:47:08.

Namibian Helalia Johannes was involved in two close finishes, coming out on the losing side in the closest one in 2017. Running as the designated pacesetter, Johannes was already clear of the field through halfway on 2 hr 30 min pace as planned. Opting to complete the race, she had all but won before Ethiopian Betelhem Moges overhauled her in the final kilometre to win by just 6 seconds in 2:30:23.

The following year Johannes raced as a full competitor, winning by 32 seconds over another Ethiopian athlete, Failuna Matanga, in 2:29:28.

Kenyan marathon debutant, Lydia Simiyu, won in 2021 in one of the best contests, with the top four women within touching distance just 3km from the finish.

After Gerda Steyn had taken the pace for much of the race, Simiyu took over at the business end to race to victory in record time in 2 hrs 25 min 44 sec, 12 seconds clear of her compatriot and past winner, Lucy Karimi.

Ethiopian Aynalem Teferi nudged Steyn off the podium, taking third 16 seconds later with Steyn completing SCTM’s most competitive quartet just 41 seconds after the winner.

Twelve months later and South Africa again had a Cape Town Marathon champion.  Glenrose ‘Supercharge’ Xaba was simply unstoppable in her marathon debut in one of the best athletics performances on South Africa soil and against the strongest women’s field ever assembled in Cape Town.

Xaba raced home 14 seconds ahead of former world champion, Ethiopia’s Mare Dibaba, in 2:22:22 with Kenyan Pascalia Chepkogei completing the sub-2 hr 23 min podium with a 2:22:49 third place.

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