Running races is what what we do.
Racing time
Blouberg
Blouberg Marathon has quickly grown to become one of the major Cape Town marathons. It is the first opportunity to qualify for Comrades and offers a flat, potentially fast route. However, being relatively early in the season, it’s prone to some nasty Cape weather, and 2024 was no exception.
Due to the interest in the race, the marathon, half-marathon, and 10k races were split across Saturday and Sunday. It was the marathon runners who had to face a fierce cold front with strong winds and driving rain.
To make matters worse, the City insisted that the races had to start in batches. Limited knowledge of the batch process, along with some uncertainty regarding the timing, resulted in some confusion.
Many people struggled in the conditions, but the small group of CMC runners still managed to deliver some great results:
Nardus Matthysen came second overall in the 10k and first in his age category with a time of 38:18. Unfortunately, he did not realize that runners had to opt-in to be considered as contenders and was therefore not eligible for a podium award—this is an often-overlooked rule and something our fast runners should remember in the future.
Schalk Viljoen came 4th in his age category with a brilliant 1:23:40 in the 21k.
Herman Bonechanse achieved a respectable 7th place in his age category with his 3:18 marathon.
It's often risky to single out one individual's performance, as there may be many notable achievements that I'm not aware of. However, I must mention Will Boltmann's incredible performance. He has been working towards breaking the coveted 2-hour barrier for some time now, and he achieved it in impressive style by smashing a personal best of 1:53:07. This is truly remarkable and well-deserved.
Big shout-out to all!
Nardus on his way to his second place in the 10k
Upcoming race
Features races
Bakgat 10
Please support Bellville club's race.Blouberg 42 and 21
Blouberg marathon will be the first qualifier for Comrades ‘25. Perhaps not ideal to run both Blouberg as well as CTM, but hey, why not?Tekkie Challenge
Sorry, please don’t run it, Marshal it, then you can do the Marshal's run on Sept 1.Gun Run
Always a great event, especially if you’re looking to run your first half marathon. We will be there in full force to support you afterwards at the CMC gazebo.Chapman’s Peak half
If the race is not canceled (due to bad weather), then this is an absolute beauty. Run Chappies up and down, and back. Nothing else comes close.Landmarks 21k
Another "must run" (there are so many). The Landmarks is a true gem, traversing many iconic Souther Suburb points of interest where you experience the true charachter of Cape Town.
Online entries here - closing date Nov 10
Past races
Brackenfell half
The Brackenfell half marathon is one of our "home" runs in the Northern suburbs, and organised by one of the baTTle of the North clubs, It was therefore encouraging to see so many CMC runners braving early rainy conditions, but fortunately the predictions were accurate and the race was dry. Perfect conditions, coupled with great organisation made for an enjoyable race.
Comrades results overview
Our 2024 Comrades results are really remarkable. Here are some of the amazing statistics:
100% success rate - we had 40 runners who started, and all 40 finished before the cut-off.
9 PBs - with special recognition to Jan Ellis who improved his time with a whopping 59 minutes.
13 first time runners
3 Silver medals - not only Wunderkid Werner, but also 2 first time runners - Mad Max Malcolm and Jetstream Jenny.
8 Bill Rowan medals - and it included 4 first timers, Redline Reon, JP Botha and the two Van der Berg sisters, who incidentally entered on the last day of subs!!
1 minute 13 seconds - how close Malcolm came to his predicted time. We ran a small competition at the send-off where runners were asked to predict their finish times. Malcolm's prediction was only a remarkable 1 minute 13 seconds off. This was followed by Reon who predicted to be 30 minutes behind Malcolm, and he came in 31 minutes later. Really outstanding execution for two novices (Did I just call Reon and Malcolm novices?)
55 minutes - on the other end of the scale, JP Botha ran nearly an hour faster than his prediction. Really brave for a first time runner!!!
17 minutes The average prediction accuracy of the all experienced runners.
I can tell stories about every runner - it was such a remarkable and inspirational journey.
I really hope that we will have 60 runners in 2025, 80 in 2026, and let's aim for a 100+ for the 2027 Comrades 100th run.
Slave Route
This is a little gem of a half marathon. Rich in culture, a truly unique Cape Town classic.
Starting on the Grand Parade it ventures out towards District 6, then past the Parliament, offering a couple of gentle climbs to ease you into the real business part of the race, Bo-Kaap, where Koesister hill awaits. After triumphing the near impossible climb with the help of a couple of the local delicacies, you're left with a challenging last 9km around Green Point and Stadium precinct, flat enough to really nail down the tempting negative split.
I will be back, this is a must run race for every Capetonian, and a big shout out to the organisers that delivered a fantastic event.
Two Oceans Ultra
CMC had a fantastic day on the road this weekend with many personal achievements.
We had 75 runners (45 Male, 30 Female ) who started running the Two Oceans Ultra on Sat 13 April in near perfect conditions. The wind was a but gusty, but it provided a great push from behind on the dreaded section between Fish Hoek and Noordhoek.
Special congratulations to our first placed Runner Malcolm Isaacs on his silver medal, and first lady Jenny Close on her Sainsbury.
Our club total of 1 Silver and 17 Sainsbury medals is something to be really proud of.
Two Oceans 21k
We had 47 21k finishers this morning - 3 of them, Chrisna, Franci and Edmund, doing the 56 and 21 double. Really remarkable, especially for Edmund who ran a sub 4h yesterday.
Congratulations to Pieter Carstens and Berlize du Plessis who where our top male and female finishers. I also need to call out Marius van Rensburg for his brilliant 2h03 in the 70+ category, just missing out on a podium!
