Mandela Day Marathon by the numbers

HOWICK — The popularity of the Mandela Day marathon next weekend is clearly demonstrated by the entry numbers for the three races which make up the road running event.

There are an impressive 14 000 athletes entered for the 42km, 21km and 10km races with the two shorter events attracting the biggest fields at just over 5 000 each, while the standard marathon distance has attracted a entry of 3 500 runners.

It is likely the event could easily have added a couple of thousand more entries, but logistics dictated that entries closed in July, both to ensure numbers were finalised for suppliers as well as to safeguard against overcrowding on the route.

There will not be a repeat winner in the men’s or the women’s races with both last year’s champions, Sintayehu Legese Yinesu and Loice Jebet, not on the entry list, and, unless they are given a wildcard late entry, they will not defend their titles.

However the second-placed woman from 12 months ago, Ethiopian Selam Abere Alebachew, and the third man, Kenyan Mark Oyugu, could be the runners to beat this year.

Included in the just under 3 500 entrants in the 42 kilometre race are 3 000 males. The age spread remarkably has a third of the runners competing in the veteran 40 to 49 age group, while there are 92 runners attempting the standard marathon distance after their 60th birthdays.

The standard marathon has relatively even split between men and women with just less than 2 900 men and almost 2 300 women taking part. The “younger crowd” have opted to run the half marathon with almost 2 000 entrants under 35 years old, including 66 juniors.

Not surprisingly the 5 141 entrants in the 10km make this the biggest event (if only a few more than the 21km) and the women on the road for the shorter event outnumber their male counterparts by almost two to one.

Mandela Day Marathon by the numbers