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The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon has been confirmed as the first Abbott World Marathon Major to be held on African soil, following the successful staging of its 2026 race.
What is significant about this achievement is that approximately 80% of the world's top 50 elite marathon runners hail from Africa, allowing athletes to compete on their own continent. But this moment reaches far beyond the elite field and African excellence.
Clark Gardner, CEO and race director of the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, highlights, “The achievement is, above all, a shared one. Becoming a Major was never the work of an event alone, but the result of years of collective effort by every community that rallied around the race.”
Mediclinic is proud to have played a vital part in this accreditation success by delivering world-class medical care at an internationally recognised event.
Excellence in Action
The Mediclinic medical team behind the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, led by Dr Darren Green, event medicine specialist and Head of the Corporate Events Department at Mediclinic Southern Africa, began preparing for the 2026 event six months in advance.
The 2026 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon was in its final year of bidding to become a World Major. Aside from the marathon itself, there were three trail runs of different lengths, as well as 5km and 10km runs. Over the entire weekend, 40 000 runners took part, requiring a large team to be on hand to provide medical and emergency support. Because of the qualifying process, the participation profile also included the World Age Group Marathon competition, adding 1850 runners, all aged between 40 and 80 years, and over 8000 international runners during this year’s event.
“Medically, the Abbott World Major standards are set higher than other industry standards across all components of event management and for stringent operational requirements. This refers to medical staffing, deployments and levels of care required,” explains Dr Green.
Mediclinic brings international event experience. “Our skillsets are developed through a diverse portfolio of both national and international high-profile events, covering the best in category across sporting codes – Sanlam Town Marathon, Cape Town Cycle Tour, Absa Cape Epic and World Sevens Rugby Series, as well as a host of SA Rugby events,” he explains.
Through these events, Mediclinic has earned international credibility as a leading healthcare provider, with exacting standards for prioritised, patient-focused care.
Dr Green explains that clients benefit from customised medical services teams tailored to each event's requirements. Niche expertise and experienced personnel in emergency and sports medicine are essential to ensure good clinical governance on race day. “Our team of doctors and nurses need to understand the environment and event demands and have the resilience to perform under pressure. At this level, ICU and high care experience also contributes to competency in dealing with more serious medical encounters. This year we had emergency physicians, sports physicians, pulmonologists and enthusiastic medical students from our two leading medical and health science faculties at Stellenbosch and Cape Town universities,” he continued.
Collaboration is key to excellence
An added benefit of the Mediclinic relationship is that the route is covered by affiliate ER24, the dedicated pre-hospital service provider, ensuring all patient transfers are swift and smooth. In addition, there are multiple medical points staffed by doctors and nurses, and some by ER24 medics, strategically positioned along the 42 km course.
“As an event medicine specialist, delivering medical services for a World Major requires rigorous compliance with a detailed set of standards,” says Tristan Manning, Manager: Corporate Event Risk and Disaster Manager. “Our approach centres on meticulous planning across every aspect of care delivery—from designing specialised staffing models and establishing fit-for-purpose medical facilities to integrating advanced pre-hospital emergency support in partnership with ER24. Equally critical are adaptable management systems and robust contingency frameworks, which ensure we can respond dynamically to evolving scenarios while minimising risk and safeguarding all participants.”
Even greater collaboration is evident with engagement and support from surrounding hospitals in the metropole, from both the private and state sectors. Mediclinic also engages with medical volunteers from the Faculties of Medicine at UCT and the University of Stellenbosch, providing them with valuable experience in these scenarios. Operational staff on the ground also include members from all components of the business, covering infrastructure, layout and effective communication.
Bringing technology into our offering
“Developed in collaboration with local innovators, our customised eventing digital application is a world leader in its class. It was introduced to support a precise, efficient, and fully paperless approach to medical reporting during events,” explains Dr Green. “From an event medicine perspective, the platform enables our teams to capture patient interactions in real time. Every presentation at a water point or field hospital is digitally recorded, including symptoms, clinical assessments, treatments provided, medications administered, and final disposition. This ensures a continuous, accurate clinical record, whether the participant is cleared to continue, withdrawn from the event, or escalated for hospital care.”
As organisers of the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon conclude, “While becoming the eighth Major is a singular achievement, the event's standing as Africa's first defines this moment in history.”