Last chance to enter the 50th N3TC Arthur Cresswell Memorial Marathon between Bergville and Ladysmith

jonckie

9 years ago

Runners only have a few days left to enter the N3TC Arthur Cresswell Memorial Marathon. Only pre-race entries are accepted for this Comrades qualifier. To mark this milestone, N3TC is offering a course record incentive of R10 000 to first man and first woman to break the respective 52km course records at this year’s event. Entries close on 20 March 2015.

“This is the 5^th year that N3 Toll Concession (N3TC) will be hosting the race. We are looking forward to celebrating 50 years of the successful hosting of this quirky marathon. As far as we know, this is the only marathon in South Africa that had its origins in a pub. The plan to host the Arthur Creswell Memorial Marathon got hatched in Ladysmith’s Old Country Club Pub when the late Dave Gardner and Dart Bousefield had the idea to commemorate their runner-friend, Arthur Cresswell, with an ultra-marathon. It is now one of South Africa’s oldest marathons and a favorite of many runners preparing for the Comrades Marathon,” explains N3TC Marketing Manager, Andy Visser.

N3TC is responsible for the management of the N3 Toll Route between Heidelberg and Cedara.

Well-known marathon athletes have completed this race in the past including Bruce Fordyce, Shaun Meikeljohn, Frith van der Merwe and Nadine Harris, to name a few. Manie Khun became the inaugural winner of the Arthur Cresswell Marathon clocking a good time of 03:42:20 for 52km.

The marathon, organised by the Ladysmith Athletics Club, will take place on Saturday, 11 April. This 52km race is largely run through open country, farm areas and a forest. It offers an ideal opportunity for runners to test their fitness levels. Some challenging sections can be expected at 12km and 18km with another testing pull at the 45km mark. The race finishes with a downhill meander to the Ladysmith Indoor Sports Centre.

Apart from the main 52km ultra marathon, the N3TC 21km Half Marathon will take place on the same day and for those who want take it really easy, the 5km Khanyisile Trust Fun Run is also planned for Friday 10 April before the two big races. This fun/run walk benefits the Khanyisile Community Trust which supports twelve schools in the Van Reenen district through a number of programmes for children including education development initiatives, safe transport, eco-training, waste recycling, nutrition, health and sanitation. R10 from every entry in any of the N3TC Arthur Cresswell Memorial Marathon races will be donated to Khanyisile.