The Diamonds and Dorings Kimberley Big Hole Marathon is all set for its second edition. The event is scheduled to take place from October Saturday 24 to Sunday 25, 2026 at the Kimberley, in Northern Cape. This year the event is held under the theme of “Local is Lekker”.
The event is organized in a collaboration, Thato Setholo in the role of Race Director and Carey Moraladi in the role of Project Manager. The Northern Cape provincial authorities also supported the run event to promote sport tourism. In the two days event there will be 4 categories of the run on Saturday, October 24 three runs will take place including half marathon 21.1km, 10 km and 5km fun run.
On the second day of the event Sunday, October 25, full marathon 42.2km which starts around 5:30 AM. Moreover, the organisation also arranged cash prizes for the winners and a total prize pool of R1.2 million, which will be distributed across eligible categories winners. The prize will be distributed equally in male and female winners. The first position winners will get R200,000, second positions holders will get R100,000 and third position will get 50,000 cash prize.
The all runs in the event will start and finish at Kimberley Boys High School, while the routes of the race takes runners through Kimberely’s urban areas and surroundings communities and organisers also provide separate GPS routes for all the runs. According to reports, the full marathon 42.2km is an official qualifier run for South Africa two majors distance runs including Comrades Marathon and Two Oceans Marathon.
Dr. Zamani Saul, Premier of Northern Cape and Mangaliso Matika, MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture visited the venue to check the preparation of the event.
Additionally, Arthur Jatjies, star runner of the Northern Cape played an important role as he was appointed as the ambassador of the Diamonds and Dorings Kimberley Big Hole Marathon 2026. Jatjies also arrived one week early to the Kimberly. He was welcomed by the Premier of Northern Cape, Dr. Zamani Saul accompanied by the race event organisers.
Last year the event was held on Saturday, November, 22 2025 at Sol Plaatje University Central Campus Sports Grounds.