October Comrades Qualifiers

By Stuart Mann

There are 17 marathons on the cards in October.

Weekend One

It’s a busy first weekend with six options. The Intercare Blouberg Marathon has moved from their previous August race date. The route is a tale of three thirds. The first 14km are spent heading south towards Table View before turning around and heading back north again past the finish at the Big Bay Beachfront (with much of this section hugging the coastline). After which, you shoot past the finish for your second 14-kilometre segment until you reach the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station and then the final third is back home via Melkbosstrand.

The overall climbing elevation is just 132m making this one of the flattest marathons in the country. The last half of the race is completely void of hills so make sure you don’t have a nuclear meltdown on the unwavering flatness after passing Koeberg. You always take your chances with the Cape weather but on a clear day you will get brilliant views of Table Mountain and Robben Island on the home stretch.

The Shikhumba Filling Marathon in the north-eastern extremities of Limpopo requires plenty of effort and logistical planning to get to the start line. However, once the gun fires the route is simplicity itself. You run straight along the road to Giyani for 21.1 kilometres, turn around and then run home. Other than a few untarred village roads, there are not even any intersections to distract the Shikhumba marathon runner. The scenery is your typical lowveld vista of thorny trees and dusty shrubbery whilst the route is genuinely gentle undulations with a total climbing elevation of 326m. There are a few curious villagers gawking at the crazy people running in the heat but the main spectators are free range chickens, goats, donkeys and cows.

Saturday also sees the Prof. Otty Nxumalo Marathon in Vryheid. The event honours the prominent KwaZulu-Natal academic and author and provides an undulating out-and-back route.

The highlight of the weekend is the Midvaal MADMAC Marathon. There are a lot of clowns running athletics but this race lets you run with the clowns (the clown theme was chosen by race organisers Meyerton AC as the race venue is the site of the old Boswell Wilkie Circus in Randvaal). The first half is flat and easy crossing the Henley on Klip River. However, the second half is full of banana peels and pie tossing. There are three hills on the second half. The first was named by local cyclists and is called ‘Heartbreak Hill’. It is a steady 80m elevated pull over 4km. When considering hill names, one should bear in mind that cyclists are wimps. It’s actually not that bad – if the hill had been named by runners it would be called ‘Heartrate Mildly Elevated Hill’.

The second hill is up the appropriately named Cross Road – and some ‘anger management’ may be required up this short, sharp 2km stretch with a 50m ascent. Once again, it is appropriate to compare the average cyclists’ tormented description whilst pedalling up Cross Hill – which is ‘@#$%ing livid’ – to that of the average runner plodding to the top – which would be a more sedate ‘mildly irritated’.

The third hill, a 3.5km gentle rise to the 36km mark, does not even have a name but I found this to be the toughest – not because of the elevation but because of the hectic camber in the road (no doubt caused by heavy cyclists). In homage to the most famous hobo clown of all time, I would propose calling this treacherous stretch of slanted tarmac the ‘Charlie Chap-lean Hill’.

Your final two options are in KwaZulu Natal with the picturesque South Coast Marathon providing a good excuse for a ‘weekend away’ and the GateRite Challenge returning with a new route.

Weekend Two

Red Star is now a Sunset Marathon starting at 6pm and running into the night. Your route is the Red Star Racetrack: Each lap is 4km and, with 13 turns, allows you to perfect your cornering technique. The finish straight is 800m allowing you to open the throttle and give it some gas. With just 12m of elevation per lap this is a fast route.

Sunday provides the only ultra option in October with the Seshego 50k. This is a point to point ultra that starts on the R71 Mankweng to Polokwane. The first 22km takes you back towards Polokwane before veering left onto the N1 highway for an extended period of freeway running. You exit the N1 around the 34-kilometre mark on the southern outskirts of Polokwane. Seshego is on the north-western periphery of the city so you’ve got 16 kilometres through industrial areas and suburbs to conquer before you can earn your finish.

Ethekwini’s Township to Township Marathon has returned after an absence of many years to round off the weekend.

Weekend Three

There are also three marathons this weekend. The new Fancourt Marathon promises a spectacular sunrise over the Outeniqua Mountains. The first part of the race is through the Links Golf Course after which you wind your way up and down dairy and berry farms.

The LetsGo Potch Marathon is a pancake flat two lap tour of Potchefstroom. The only hills are the sporadic railway line crossings.  You start off with a 12km out-and-back to the Potchefstroom Dam which returns one to the start at Cachet Park before doing a loop around the local army base and then strolling through some leafy suburbs and the longest avenue of oak trees in South Africa to complete the lap.

Sunday sees another new addition with Galazo’s high profile Nelson Mandela Challenge Marathon. The inaugural event will start at the Grand Parade and take runners through the heart of Cape Town, with sites like District Six, Parliament, the Company’s Garden and the Bo-Kaap area.

Weekend Four

With Cape Town Marathon being cancelled in 2025, the largest standard marathon in South African was the Jacaranda Marathon (but this did cause some confusion when they promoted themselves as such on their race flyer). This is your chance to see purple rain in real life at the only Gauteng marathon north of the Jukskei in the second half of the year. The double-lapper is timed to capture the capital city’s famous Jacaranda trees in full bloom. If purple is your favourite colour this is the race for you.

Tzaneen’s Wolfpack Marathon is another that makes a return in 2026. The route starts with a picturesque ten kilometre out-and-back along the R36 from the Merensky School. Once back at the school, the remaining 32 kilometres are essentially a big loop around the Tzaneen Dam. The route is described by locals as being “Relatively flat.” However, this is term that must be heard with caution in this part of the world where you can rise and fall between the Lowveld and the Highveld during a parkrun. The Wolfpack Marathon is relatively flat compared to the other marathons in the area in the same way that Scarlett Johansson is relatively flat when compared with Dolly Parton. 

The final three opportunities to get your marathon fix are on the Sunday. I am looking forward to heading down to Hangklip to run their inaugural marathon. This is a beautiful part of the world and the out and back coastal route promises stunning scenery taking one past the Palmiet River and through Betty’s Bay to the dunes.

A little further up the coast is the Sapphire Coast Marathon. With a profile like the jaw of a ragged-tooth shark, this is 42 kilometres of unrelenting undulations along Kwazulu Natal’s south coast. If the hills don’t get you the humidity will. The current course is both loopy and undulating heading south to Warner Beach in Prospection where you do get 5km of flatness. The third option is the lowkey point to point Umzila Ka Tambo Marathon in the Eastern Cape’s Bizana.

Stuart Mann is the proud holder of Comrades Green Number 50252. He writes and blogs as ‘The Running Mann’. You can follow him on Facebook, X or Instagram and can read about his marathon running adventures at www.runningmann.com.

Full details of all October qualifiers can be found here: https://runningmann.co.za/2026/09/07/october-2026-marathons/

A complete list of all 2026 Comrades qualifier marathons and ultras can be found here: https://runningmann.co.za/2025/12/04/complete-2026-marathon-calendar/