The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon is officially the eighth Abbott World Marathon Major and the first one on African soil. The announcement landed June 10, 2026. Cape Town joins the series at its next running on May 23, 2027, alongside Tokyo, Boston, London, Sydney, Berlin, Chicago, and New York.

Big news, and overdue. The continent that produces most of the sport’s greatest distance runners finally has a Major to call home.

How it happened

Cape Town passed its second evaluation at the 2026 race in May, which is how the candidacy process works. Two clean runnings against the full criteria (course, expo, elite field, operations, safety) and you’re in. Everyone who finished the 2026 race got a provisional star, and those are being upgraded to the real thing.

What this does to the star chase

Quick math for anyone collecting:

The Six Star medal stays. Abbott confirmed it keeps being awarded for the original six (Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York), so nobody’s progress gets erased.

Sydney made it seven last year. Cape Town makes it eight. And a Nine Star medal is already on the table, because Shanghai is the next candidate. If it passes its second evaluation on December 6, 2026, the series goes to nine.

So the bucket list just got longer, more expensive, and honestly more interesting. Six used to be the finish line. Now it’s a checkpoint.

Our take

Register interest early if Cape Town has ever crossed your mind. Major status does one thing to a race every single time: demand goes through the roof. The 2026 edition was the last one you could enter casually. May 2027 will not be.

And if a full in Cape Town sounds like a lot right now, that’s fine. Closer to home, our open entry race picks have races you can register for today, no lottery, no qualifier.