Cape Town Marathon 2027: worth running in its first year as a Major, even without a Six Star medal?

Cape Town, South Africa

1The Eighth Major Takes Place on May 23, 2027

For years the World Marathon Majors meant six races: Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York. Sydney became the seventh; Cape Town is the eighth, the second in the Southern Hemisphere and the first in Africa. It was named a candidate in 2021 and cleared the first stage in October 2024, but with the 2025 evaluation lost to the wind, promotion took five years in all.

The Abbott WMM chief executive's announcement opened with one line: “Africa's first Major has finally arrived.” The 2027 Majors calendar closes its spring season with Tokyo on March 7, Boston on April 19 and London at the end of April. Then nothing until Sydney on August 29, a gap of nearly four months.

Cape Town's May 23 lands right in the middle of it, about a month after London and 98 days before Sydney. The new date has already brought people who never came before. An American runner featured on the running channel Runna TV said the old autumn date had always clashed with other races.

Once it moved to May, she flew in: two flights, each over ten hours. For anyone who missed the spring Majors, this is also the only Major left before autumn.

Cape Town MarathonSun, May 23, 2027 · D-237 · Cape Town, South AfricaSee race details

Cape Town, South Africa

2Cape Town Will Not Count Toward the Six Star Medal

If you collect Majors, check this first: a Cape Town finish does not count toward the Six Star medal. Six Star stays with the original six races. Where Cape Town does count is the Nine Star medal, which will exist once there are nine Majors, and Sydney counts there too.

The ninth candidate, Shanghai, faces its second evaluation at its December 6, 2026 race. Whether the Nine Star medal ever materializes depends on that result. So the math differs by runner.

If you already have your Six Star, Cape Town is the second slot toward the next medal, and if you've run Sydney, the first slot is already filled. If you haven't finished the six yet, Cape Town can wait. And the 2026 finishers?

According to the WMM, every one of them received a provisional star, to be converted into a full star later.

Cape Town, South Africa

3Course Records and Race-Day Weather from the Inaugural May Event

The men's winning time at the first May edition was 2:04:55, a course record. Both wheelchair races set course records as well. The women's winner, in 2:23:18, finished 56 seconds outside the course record of 2:22:22.

It is too early to call this a record course. The October edition vanished entirely because of wind, and May has produced exactly one race so far, in 2026. The weather was kind that day, and the records came out of that one day.

Whether Cape Town is reliably that calm in May won't be known until after 2027. The start moved later too, from 6:10 a.m.

for the October race to 8:00 a.m. for the elite field in May, because the sun rises later at that time of year.

Cape Town, South Africa

4Course Review: The 6km Climb and the Coastal Loop in the Second Half

The local runner behind the YouTube channel ThatIndieRunner came back for his first marathon in nine years. His last one was in 2017, at this same race. In 2026 he drew the 9:06 start, the final wave.

He was glad not to be travelling in the dark, but the shuttle to the start had stopped running at 7:00, so he crossed the bridge by the harbour and walked all the way to Fritz Sonnenberg Road beside DHL Stadium. Asked about his goal before the gun, he kept it short: “Finish alive.” The course leaves the city through Woodstock, Salt River and Mowbray and swings wide through the southern suburbs.

Another local, running his first marathon (YouTube: Runnin Dads), called the climb around 6 km “the first massive hill.” The American runner from Runna TV said that somewhere between miles 5 and 10 she started to realize the Cape Town Marathon is not a flat course. It is often sold as flat and fast; the runners on camera tell it differently.

By then ThatIndieRunner had passed the second cut-off at 11 km, and he reported sweep buses already waiting at 14 km. After Rondebosch Common and the University of Cape Town, the route comes back into the city past the Castle of Good Hope, City Hall, St George's Cathedral and the Company's Garden. A local runner nursing a knee injury (YouTube: Nika Bedeker) turned to her camera at the Company's Garden hill and asked for luck.

At about 35 km, runners pass the finish area on Vlei Road and keep going. There are 6.43 km still to run, out toward Sea Point and back. Locally, this stretch is known as the loop of death.

Two runners filmed on that loop. Nika Bedeker, walking since 22 km, said at 39 km: “It's really beautiful, and the vibes are amazing.” At 37 to 38 km on the same loop, ThatIndieRunner said the opposite: “I've got nothing left in the tank.”

A little more than 4 km from the finish, on the seafront, he was caught by the cut-off and climbed onto the sweep bus.

Cape Town, South Africa

5Remaining Entry Options, Bib Pickup, and Race-Day Shuttles

The general ballot for 2027 ran from June 10 to 24, 2026, and is closed. The 5-rand application fee was non-refundable and went to charity. What remains are international tour operators and charity places, released first-come, first-served from June 26.

Marathon entrants must be 18 or older, and there is no qualifying time. You have to collect your bib in person. Family members and travel agents cannot collect it for you, and there is no race-day collection.

In 2026 the expo ran Thursday to Saturday at DHL Stadium, with Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.

m., reserved for marathon runners. Bring the QR code you received by email or WhatsApp.

On race morning in 2026, free shuttles ran from six pick-up points to the stadium between 5:30 and 6:45 a.m., and cars left around Green Point were towed.

The official time limit is 6 hours 30 minutes, the final cut-off is 3:50 p.m., and there are 15 aid stations, roughly every 3 km.

The average May temperature in Cape Town is 16.5°C. If you're in a later wave, write the intermediate cut-off times on your wrist before the start, so you can count what's left when you reach the loop. For the mood at the start, a local runner interviewed by Runna TV says it best: “In South Africa, they're going to be dancing, they're going to be singing, they're going to be hugging you.

So if you don't like that personal space, this is the wrong race.”