The Eastern Cape Liquor Board (ECLB) Awareness Run over the half-marathon distance will be run from Beacon Bay Crossing on Sunday morning.
There will also, for the first time, be a 10km race added, which is sure to swell the numbers on the roads of Beacon Bay and beyond.
In the early years the top runners were sparse, though the general running populace were happy to support the event.
In 2025 the race turned the corner when it attracted the cream of the available men and, for the first time, a good sampling in the women’s field too. The result was that new best times were recorded in both categories and age groups as well.
The course is not easy, as the winning times indicate.
Last year Cwenga Nose of Phantane AC in Durban won in 65:51, while the hitherto top male in the province of Border, Yanga Malusi, was second.
There were two promising junior men who are believed to be ready to take on a much more competitive field this year
He had, however, moved to Cape Town and was in the colours of Tyme Bank Langa. Malusi’s time was 2:28 off the winning pace at the finish, while in third position was the runner who can now be considered to be the local man to beat over virtually any distance from 5km to the standard marathon of 42.2km.
Luyolo Ngcongolo of Powered Up Runners in Cofimvaba ran a positive time of 68:40 and was just 21 seconds off of Malusi when he crossed the finish line. His race delivered ideal pacing and accomplished negative splits.
There were two promising junior men who are believed to be ready to take on a much more competitive field this year.
Endinako Mpondo of Brac was first last year and could well compete with the seniors in 2026, while the host club, Real Gijimas, will have high hopes for Lizole Vara who won the junior category and was fourth overall at the Alfred Mtsi 10km last weekend.
The veteran runners will be without some of their Comrades Marathon exponents but will still be out in force over the half marathon, a distance that every road runner who understands the sport fully will always choose to run.
Hanlie Botha, the most dominant woman in road races up to the half marathon, has yet to run the Awareness Run but is expected to be in the field this year. If she is indeed on the start line, she will have to be closely watched by the other women.
As the race grows, more athletes will emerge and chase records, though they will need to be great hill runners, as have past winners, the likes of Anele Dlamini and Malusi
Last year Caryn Lategan, a first-timer to the course, had run the South African Half Marathon Championships, incorporated into the Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon, the day before, and whilst most would choose to rest thereafter, Lategan and her sister, Lauren Ranger, decided otherwise and went for a back-to-back experience.
It paid off with Lategan winning in 88:05 and her sister finishing third. Lategan had been in second place some two minutes 16 seconds off the pace of the leader Lusanda Bomvana at 15km. She is, however, a powerhouse on the hills and was able to catch Bomvana on the climb up from the Nahoon River to Bonza Bay Main Road.
Bomvana, always a tough competitor, could not hold on, but if she is back this year, she cannot be ruled out as a potential winner.
As the race grows, more athletes will emerge and chase records, though they will need to be great hill runners, as have past winners, the likes of Anele Dlamini and Malusi.
Speedsters such as Bomvana have also shown great form in tactical running; Nose’s incredible speed has seen him through, and the grit and determination of Luyolo are not easy to beat.
Combinations of them and others will make for exciting racing on Sunday morning.
Daily Dispatch
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