TheMarathon Clinic
Course pacing

How to pace the Cape Town Marathon

The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon is a largely flat but gently rolling marathon, with about 205 m of climbing and 203 m of descent (a near-level net change). Pace it by even effort: ease back on the few rises and let the descents run, rather than forcing an identical pace on every kilometre.

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Next Cape Town Marathon

Sunday 18 October 2026

About 16 weeks away · 112 days · projected from the usual race weekend

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Elevation gain

205m

Elevation loss

203m

Net change

+2m

Terrain

Rolling

Typical race-day conditions

October

At the gun

13°C

~6:15am start

By the finish

18°C

warms through the morning

Humidity

75%

morning average

Conditions

Warm

a little warm; expect a small slowdown

Goal finish time
::
StrategyEven effort keeps your effort steady and lets pace drift with the terrain, slower up the climbs and faster down. Even pace holds one pace the whole way and ignores the hills.
Splits every
Units
Race conditionsPace for an ideal cool day, a typical race-day, or a warm-outlier year. Warmer conditions slow your realistic finish, and the splits below adjust to match.
AcclimatisedAcclimatised: you already train and race in conditions like these, so your body has adapted. You sweat sooner and more, hold a lower heart rate and core temperature, and barely lose time to the heat.Not yet: you mostly train in cooler weather, so a warm race hits harder, a higher heart rate, an earlier fade, and roughly twice the slowdown an adapted runner sees. It comes good after about two weeks of training in the heat.
Typical condition impactTypical October · +1.9%

A typical October morning sits around 13°C at the gun and 18°C by the finish. Adapted to conditions like these, the heat may still slow you about +1.9% against an ideal cool day. That moves your 3:30:00 goal to about 3:34:00, and the pace below already allows for it.

Your target pace

5:04/km

Your average across the whole course. The splits below shift it for every climb and descent, so your effort stays even the whole way.

Sanlam Cape Town Marathon

Cape Town, South Africa

Hover the map or the profile, the other follows.

This one is won on the back half.

0 km5101520253035405 m10 m15 m20 m25 m30 m35 m
km 29–32 climbs 27 m, right where most runners fade.
climb descenttarget pace

The coach's read

Fast, with gentle rolls rather than real hills, and a city-and-coast loop that brings the finish into view before sending you back out along the Sea Point promenade. Run the rolls by effort, respect any wind off the Atlantic late, and you've a quick course under the mountain.

WHY  Allowing for a typical October day, that's about 5:04/km of effort the whole way, the splits below shift with the gradient, not your pace.

Ease the climbs, let the descents run, and stay relaxed through the second half.
JHJason HuntFounder & Head Coach

Hardest stretch

The km to 31 km: 5:26/km at +1.3%.

Free speed

The km to 23 km: 4:43/km at -1.4%.

Key climbs & descents
Your race-day splits
MarkerTarget paceClock
1 km5:04/km5:04
2 km5:14/km10:18
3 km5:04/km15:22
4 km4:52/km20:14
5 km5:15/km25:29
6 km5:17/km30:46
7 km5:01/km35:47
8 km5:06/km40:54
9 km5:24/km46:17
10 km5:04/km51:21
11 km4:55/km56:16
12 km4:49/km1:01:05
13 km5:18/km1:06:23
14 km5:13/km1:11:36
15 km5:06/km1:16:42
16 km5:02/km1:21:43
17 km4:57/km1:26:40
18 km4:51/km1:31:32
19 km5:13/km1:36:44
20 km5:00/km1:41:44
21 km5:07/km1:46:51
22 km5:10/km1:52:01
23 km4:43/km1:56:44
24 km5:01/km2:01:44
25 km4:57/km2:06:41
26 km5:15/km2:11:56
27 km5:07/km2:17:03
28 km4:56/km2:21:58
29 km5:08/km2:27:06
30 km5:13/km2:32:19
31 km5:26/km2:37:45
32 km5:15/km2:43:01
33 km5:01/km2:48:02
34 km4:55/km2:52:57
35 km4:48/km2:57:45
36 km5:01/km3:02:45
37 km5:02/km3:07:47
38 km5:08/km3:12:55
39 km4:57/km3:17:52
40 km5:03/km3:22:55
41 km5:05/km3:28:00
42 km5:03/km3:33:03
Finish4:54/km3:34:00

Even-effort splits distribute your goal time by the energy cost of each gradient (the Minetti grade-cost model), not an even pace. Wind, heat, turns, and your own downhill tolerance still apply, so run the climbs by feel and stay relaxed on the descents.

Train for this course, not just the distance.

A coach builds the climbs and descents into your plan.

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·Race-day guide

Pacing the Cape Town Marathon

A coach's read on how the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon runs, and how to spend your effort across it.

01The course

Kilometre by kilometre

  • The climbing that matters: 29.3–31.6 km (+27 m at 1.2%), 3.7–6.4 km (+23 m at 0.8%), 7.4–9.5 km (+21 m at 1.0%). Run these by effort; your pace will and should slow.
  • Where you get it back: 6.6–7.3 km (-15 m down), 22.1–22.9 km (-13 m down), 34.1–35.2 km (-12 m down). Let these run without braking or hammering: relaxed, quick feet.
02The plan

How to pace the Cape Town Marathon

  1. Read the course before race day. Fast, gently rolling, under Table Mountain. Fast, with gentle rolls rather than real hills, and a city-and-coast loop that brings the finish into view before sending you back out along the Sea Point promenade.
  2. Pace by effort, not just the watch. Set the effort you can hold for the whole marathon, then let the pace flex with the ground: a little slower up, a little faster down, the same effort throughout.
  3. Give the climbs effort, not pace. Let your pace slow on the climbs while holding effort steady; chasing your flat pace uphill is the classic way to blow up. The biggest is around 29–32 km (+27 m).
  4. Protect your quads on the descents. Stay relaxed and let the descents come to you. Hammering downhill banks a few seconds now and wrecks your legs for the closing kilometres; the model deliberately caps the downhill benefit for this reason.
  5. Plan your finish. Run the rolls by effort, respect any wind off the Atlantic late, and you've a quick course under the mountain.
03Questions

Cape Town Marathon, answered

Is the Cape Town Marathon hilly?
It's largely flat but gently rolling, with around 205 m of total climbing over the 42.2 km and a biggest single climb of about 27 m. None of it is severe, but the rises add up.
How should I pace the Cape Town Marathon?
The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon is a largely flat but gently rolling marathon, with about 205 m of climbing and 203 m of descent (a near-level net change). Pace it by even effort: ease back on the few rises and let the descents run, rather than forcing an identical pace on every kilometre.
What is the hardest part of the Cape Town Marathon?
The toughest climb runs roughly 29–32 km, gaining about 27 m at an average 1.2%. Fast, with gentle rolls rather than real hills, and a city-and-coast loop that brings the finish into view before sending you back out along the Sea Point promenade.
Is the Cape Town Marathon a good course for a PB?
It can be. It's fast enough for a personal best if you pace by effort and don't fight the rolling sections; just don't expect a dead-flat racetrack.
How much elevation gain does the Cape Town Marathon have?
About 205 m of total gain and 203 m of loss over the 42.2 km, in line with the organiser's published figures.

From the journal

2026-06-10 · 4 min

Why your marathon paces should come from a real run

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Train for Cape Town. Not just the distance.

A coach builds this course's climbs, descents and race-day pacing into a plan made for you.

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