The organisers of the Cape Town Marathon 2012 have extended the online pre-entry (available at www.ctmarathon.co.za) deadline to Monday September 17, giving runners an additional week to commit to the 42.2km and 10km races which take place on Sunday 23 September. Late entries will be taken on 21 September 2012, at Sea Point Civic, between 10am and 7pm, and on 22 September, between 10am and 5am.
Established in 2007, the race aims to position itself as an iconic global event aligned with international Big City Marathons like New York and London, and competitors will be spoilt by a showcase of historic and popular city sites en route including The Observatory, the Salt River Market, the V&A Waterfront and the Green Point Urban Park, where the race will finish.
The marathon follows a fast and flat route, which caters for elite athletes and beginners alike and showcases Cape Town’s mountains, sea and major attractions. The race forms part of the City of Cape Town’s Heritage Day festivities and is an ideal opportunity to experience and celebrate the city’s rich natural and cultural heritage.
Starting in Adderley Street, the race takes runners out to Rondebosch, before heading back to the city, via the V & A Waterfront and Sea Point, finishing on the Green Point Common Fields.
The Cape Town Marathon serves as a qualifier for the 2013 Comrades and Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, and organisers have eliminated steep hills and unnecessary turns where possible to create a route that offers opportunities for elite athletes to break records while being manageable for novices. The extended eight-hour cut-off allows first timers and walkers the chance to complete the 42.2km.
Another fast and flat race, the 10km takes runners out to the V & A Waterfront, before looping back to the city and finishing on the Green Point Common Fields. All finishers can relax in the Urban Park and support the full marathon runners as they come down the finish straight.
The 4.2km Mini-marathon is mostly run on the last 4.2km of the marathon route. Aimed at younger athletes this is not an open event; participants are required to qualify for the event via a number of different races.
A special MyCiti shuttle service will operate on race day to ferry runners. It will run between Stadium Station in Green Point and Thibault Square Station every 3 minutes between 05:15 and 06:15, with marshalls at Thibault Square Station directing runners to the race start in Adderley Street.
Tickets for the shuttle service are available for purchase from registration at the Sea Point Civic Centre on Friday 21 September between 10am and 7pm; and on Saturday 22 September between 10am and 5pm, at R5 per ticket. Only those runners who have purchased a Cape Town Marathon IRT shuttle ticket will be able to use the service. Access will only be allowed on presentation of the Cape Town Marathon IRT ticket.
The Cape Town Marathon is going hi-tech in 2012 giving supporters the opportunity to track the live progress of their favourite runners via Facebook on race day.
Runners can connect to the free Facebook app at http://www.facebook.com/CTMarathon to allow their Facebook friends to follow their progress live on the day and cheer them on in the Marathon and 10km races. Runners can also write status messages for the halfway mark and finish line, which will be posted to their wall when they reach these points, and they can have a fun finish line photo posted to their Facebook page when they finish their race.
Supporters can use the free Supporters app http://www.supportersapp.co.za from their mobile phone to get live updates – as runners cross official checkpoints along the route, the information collected by their RFID transponder (chip) is automatically fed to the Runners app and Supporters app on Facebook.
The RFID chip system, encoded with the athlete’s race number, is attached to the race number bib by a self-adhesive backing. The race bibs are in the Registration Pack to be collected at the Sea Point Civic Centre on Friday 21 September between 10am and 7pm and on Saturday 22 September between 10am and 5pm.
