Application period for all entrants is now officially opened till the 31 July 2014
The 2014 edition of the Nelson Mandela Day Marathon will feature top athletes including this year’s Comrades Marathon winner Bongumusa Mthembu. The announcement was made today by the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal Nomusa Dube-Ncube at the official launch of the 2014 instalment of the Nelson Mandela Marathon
An estimated number of more than 10 000 runners are expected to participate in the 3rd year running of the race, which commemorates the legacy of South Africa’s recently departed freedom fighter and international icon Nelson Mandela. The race runs from Imbali Township, a place where Mandela made his last major speech and finishes at a site where he was captured and incarcerated for a period 27 years, now called the Mandela Capture Site.
This year’s marathon is the first since “Madiba,” as he is affectionately known across the globe passed away on the 5th December 2013. The launch coincided with one the greatest events in South Africa’s history, the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the famous rivonia trial in which ten trialists including Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Denis Goldberg, Govan Mbeki, Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein, Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, James Kantor, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni, were tried and found guilty of various struggle-related activities from 3 December 1963 to 12 June 1964.
Speaking at the launch Cogta MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube said “The Nelson Mandela Day Marathon is an event that is surely immortalising one of the greatest icons to have walked this earth. The choice of the marathon to celebrate the legacy of Madiba is a correct one. The marathon is widely regarded as one of the hardest sporting events out there and, as such, it is a fitting discipline in which the athlete is called upon to demonstrate his or her prowess and triumph over his or her own fears of failure and physical limitations.
This sporting event aims to remind us all of the struggle once fought to give the people of South Africa the freedom that at times a few in our society now take for granted. It celebrates the legacy of the triumph of human spirit and perseverance over intolerance and adversity.”
The Nelson Mandela Day Marathon brings together runners from around the world and the application period for all entrants is now officially opened till the 31 July 2014.
The inaugural Mandela Marathon in 2012 saw over 1500 athletes standing toe to toe at the various starting lines. The second race in 2013 grew exponentially with 5500 athletes from across Africa and in 2014 is expected to be bigger and better with over 10 000 participants. I am proud to say that such 300% growth has never been experienced previously with any young event of this magnitude.
Hosting uMgungundlovu District Mayor, Yusuf Bhamjee, said “we are ready to roll-out the red carpet to all our athletes who want to run and trace the footsteps of their freedom hero. Runners will enjoy the many scenic views and the rolling foothills that our district and province is endowed with as they run into the Nelson Mandela Capture site.”
A number of other events and opportunities have been lined up which includes the new 21km distance in addition to the Flagship 42km Mandela Day Marathon and a 10km race. The half marathon addition is one of the innovations for this year’s race.
This year’s marathon will take place on Sunday 31 August 2014 and the prize amounts in this year’s race grow from R300,000 in 2012 to just over R1 million in 2014.
The overall male and female winners of the marathon will walk away with R50,000 each.
“Proceeds from the marathon will be used among other things to sustain the many philanthropic projects that our icon introduced in his life to support those less fortunate among us. This, in my view, is the true spirit of Madiba’s legacy.
The Mandela Marathon will prove not only that Madiba’s legacy lives on but also that we, as its custodians, are taking it further as we embark on the second phase of post-apartheid transformation in which the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality are addressed and ultimately resolved.” Dube-Ncube concluded.
