The Cape Town Marathon Joins the Abbott World Marathon Majors
For more than two decades, the compass of major international marathons has pointed firmly toward the northern hemisphere. Japan, the United States, and Europe had a monopoly on the dream of aspiring runners to race alongside the legends of the sport, while the African continent—despite being the birthplace of the greatest long-distance runner in history—remained merely an exporter of talent who claimed victory on podiums beyond its borders. This geographical monopoly was finally broken in a historic shift that is redrawing the map of global running; the organizing committee announced that Cape Town would join as the eighth marathon in the Abbott World Marathon Majors series, and the first
