With only a month to go before the big day, the Soweto Marathon organisers are still struggling to attract runners, with the numbers of registered participants still at an alarmingly low rate. The race is on November 5, and will start at Nasrec.
Organisers have had to extend the deadline with the hope that the numbers will skyrocket in the coming four weeks. September 30 was the deadline, and they could not reach the required 23, 000 runners target. The initial target was to get 25, 000 participants for all three races: the 10km, 21km and the full marathon (42.2km).
Still open and hopeful to reach target
According to the organisers, the number of registered runners on the initial deadline closure was 15, 000. And they were still hopeful of wooing the 8, 000 to reach their goal.
Spokesperson for the Soweto Marathon Trust, Thokozani Mazibuko, said that they will only close the entries once they reach their target. He was speaking at the sponsor activation event in Midrand. The race is sponsored by African Bank.
“If you follow patterns of runners entering races, runners have the tendency of entering at the last minute. Especially in Soweto. When we do our comparison to last year this time, we were just above in terms of numbers. We decided to extend the entries. And the numbers are picking up, and we will cap it at 23, 000,” said Mazibuko.
“We are on the ground marketing the event. Southgate Mall is our partner with goodie bags. We are also busy on social media and we are encouraging people to enter. I am encouraging people to enter while there’s still time.
More needed to be done to market the race
“And I would be lying to myself if I say we did enough in terms of marketing the race. There’s always room to improve on our marketing, and one day we hope to [have a full entries list] two months before the race,” he added.
However, last year’s winner, Ntsindiso Mphakathi, said that he is ready and on track to defend his crown. He won it when he chested the tape at 2:19:13.
“I have been working very hard. And I won the City to City and I am feeling good. Everyone has a good chance of winning. We run against each other, we motivate each other and we compete. It’s going to be tough but I want to win and defend my title. We are working on the finishing touch-ups and also looking forward to a beautiful day of running. There’s also a threat from the foreign runners from countries like Lesotho and Kenya. Those international runners motivate us a great deal,” said Mphakathi.
Visit SW YouTube Channel for our video content
