You have to wait until just before the 29km mark to get to the beach
uncertainty about the exact starting location , it was a very early wake-up . However , my Uber driver and I combined our navigational skills and successfully tracked the trail of runners to the start .
Despite the uncertainty about the exact starting location , I made it there on time
Since February is traditionally the hottest month in the Cape , I was not complaining about the early start . The sun only rises just after 6am , so the first hour was spent negotiating the uncharacteristically quiet streets of the CBD before hitting Main Road , and from there it ’ s straight onward to the beach , which you ’ ll eventually see just before the 29km mark .
The route from Green Point to Simon ’ s Town is flat and easy , but the one factor to bear in mind is the dreaded ‘ Cape Doctor ,’ the strong south-easterly wind that in many years does its best to blow the runners back to Green Point . In fact , such was the ferocity and consistency of the wicked wind from the south-east that runner pressure resulted in the 1984 event being flipped around to run from Simon ’ s Town to Green Point . However , you can ’ t mess with Mother Nature ... She easily countered the route reversal by blowing a gale force north-wester that year . The experiment was not repeated .
Much Travelled Roads
This is the oldest marathon in the Western Cape , and it seems like every other local marathon borrows bits of the Peninsula Marathon ’ s route . The first 12km are used in the Cape Town Marathon , followed by the first 22km of the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon from Newlands to Fish Hoek , and then it ’ s 5km of the Red Hill Marathon ( although in the opposite direction ) until you finally have three ‘ unique ’ kilometres to the finish line at the Simon ’ s Town Naval Base .
The Peninsula Marathon definitely offers one of the most scenic last quarters of a marathon in SA
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