Cape Town Marathon eyes platinum status

Cape Town Marathon eyes platinum status

Cape Town is ready to welcome the thousands of international, national and local athletes as well as spectators for the annual Sanlam Cape Town Marathon this weekend.

The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, Africaโ€™s only IAAF gold label status marathon, is going for platinum status this year.

As a sponsor of the event, the City of Cape Town has welcomed the organiserโ€™s decision to apply for the platinum label, potentially increasing the status of the event and further solidifying Cape Townโ€™s status as Africaโ€™s Events capital.

โ€˜The City supports events that assist our administration in creating an enabling environment that attracts investment and generates economic growth and job creation opportunities for our residents. The Cape Town Marathon is also one of the events on Cape Town’s annual events calendar that contributes to our status as a leading festival and event destination.

โ€˜With the breathtakingly beautiful Table Mountain as a backdrop and the iconic City Hall on the route, runners have the most spectacular scenery while they look to achieve their personal bests. Good luck to all the athletes and we hope it is as exciting an event for the spectators cheering on the side-lines. We call on Capetonians to come out in support of their friends and family who will be participating in the event, but also to rally behind the many visiting runners and show them our special brand of Cape Town gees,โ€™ said the Cityโ€™s Executive Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato.

The platinum label is a prestigious one, as it denotes an event as one of the leading road races in the world, fully applies IAAF competition rules and is committed to advancing the sport, and contributes to the global fight against doping, among other requirements.

If the 2019 edition of the Cape Town Marathon meets IAAF requirements, it will be granted platinum status in 2020.

โ€˜One of the other requirements for the granting of the label is that race organisers must have complete support from authorities and as the City of Cape Town we are fully behind the Cape Town Marathon. As part of our commitment to the race, the City has over the years substantially increased the value of its sponsorship to the event and we are committed to assist in working closely with the event organisers with the logistical requirements to put together the best industry standard event,โ€™ said the Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.

The 42.2 km marathon takes place this Sunday 15 September 2019. It is preceded by a 10 km Peace Run on Sunday morning as well as two Peace Trail Runs and Fun Walk on Saturday 14 September 2019.

As is customary with the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, the Run4Change program is also in full swing and features a number of initiatives including raising funds for charity, promoting healthy lifestyles, environmental conservation as well as promoting peace through running.

Last year, the marathon achieved its target of โ€˜zero waste to landfillโ€™, including every aspect of the race planning and operation. It also achieved a notable target of being carbon-neutral, offsetting all its carbon inputs including all international travel to the race in an accredited manner. This makes the marathon the first in the world to be declared carbon neutral.

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Chief Assignment Editor

Chief Assignment editor is Oleg Siziakov

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