MiWay Wally Hayward Marathon [POSTPONED]

In light of the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the subsequent postponement or cancellation of sporting events and mass gatherings in the country, the MiWay Wally Hayward Marathon organising committee, in co-operation with the relevant authorities, have made a decision to postpone the race. The safety of our participants, sponsors, suppliers, supporters and members of the public is of utmost importance to us.

The MiWay Wally Hayward Marathon is a road-running race, marathon, half marathon and fun run in Gauteng, covering 42.2km, 21.1km, 10km, 4.9km and 1km, on 1 May 2020.

Wally Hayward’s exceptional running career spanned six decades, and although he represented South Africa at the Olympic Games and set numerous ultra-distance world records, he is best remembered for his remarkable achievements in the Comrades Marathon, which he won five times and completed successfully at the ages of 79 and 80.

Probably the most remarkable achievement of the great Wally Hayward was finishing the 1988 Comrades Marathon, just before his 80th birthday. Wally stunned the world by finishing in a time of 9:44.1, beating more than half the field. In 1989, just a few weeks short of his 81st birthday, he completed his last Comrades just before the cut-off, in 10:58.03, in front of a rapturous crowd to become the oldest finisher in Comrades history.

He died on 28 April 2006, at the age of 97, a couple of days before the Wally Hayward Marathon that year, held, as always, on the Workers’ Day public holiday, on 1 May.

Pre-entries, on active.com, close on 15 April.