The 2026 Buffs Marathon and half-marathon date will be revealed at this year’s 51st race in two weeks and will likely restore the event to its traditional March slot.
This, following the blunder of the 2025 Border Athletics BORA fixture schedule, which resulted in the Buffs and Discovery Surfers Challenge being held just a day apart for the first time ever.
Buffs organiser’s Live Adventure has opted to petition Border Athletics for its preferred date for 2026 now, six months ahead of the cutoff time to apply for race dates, to mitigate the threat of any future clashes between the two historical races.
This year, the Surfers Challenge kicks off on February 22 followed by the Buffs Marathon and half-marathon on February 23.
The scheduling clash has outraged longtime runners who have faithfully participated in both races for decades. Local athletes traditionally use the Surfers Challenge — an event not affiliated with Border Athletics — as a training run for the Buffs Marathon, which serves as a qualifier for the Comrades and Two Oceans marathons.
Live Adventure’s race director Sian O’Keefe said the scheduling blunder reveals Border Athletics’ ignorance of the historical weight behind both events, their respective cultural importance for runners and their revenue generation capacity for the city.
According to O’Keefe, Buffs’ long-standing but unofficial date on the first weekend of March was given up by Border Athletics (BA) in favour of the Kempston Ladies’ Night Race, based on the rule that two Border Athletics-affiliated events cannot be held on the same weekend.
However, he argues that this decision is flawed, as the Kempston Ladies’ Night Race is primarily a social 5km and 10km event and does not hold the same significance for serious runners preparing for the Two Oceans or Comrades marathons. There was also a consideration to move the Buffs marathon to the middle of March which would have been too close to Two Oceans.
O’Keefe added: “The announcement of next year’s race date will be done on race day in two weeks’ time to mitigate a repeat of this year’s disappointment.
“Both the Buffs and Surfers Challenge will suffer this year because of this kind of bureaucracy which unaccountably happens often in athletics to the detriment of the competitors.
“What should have happened is that the success of both Surfers and Buffs should have been prioritised because these two races are among the city’s oldest events, and what is best for their legacies should have been taken into account when deciding on dates.
“We can only hope now that both races will have the support they have traditionally enjoyed.”
Currently Buffs is 150 entries ahead of where they stood at this time last year.
In response to questions from GO!&Express, Border Athletics’ exco said it has a comprehensive and consultative process to ensure equitable allocation of race dates and it will be strengthening this for 2026.
It reads: “We are aware the impact the scheduling clash will have on race organisers, the federation, athletes and the East London community and we have held discussions with both organisers to avoid future clashes.
“The entire 2025 BORA provincial fixture should be looked at holistically and a great job was done by the fixture committee to develop it.”
The clash between the races has meant veteran supporter of both races, Colin Bosch said he will be forced to forfeit Surfers to focus on Buffs. Having completed 35 Buffs Marathons and more than 30 Surfers Challenges, he believes many runners will make the same choice, as Buffs serves as a crucial qualifier for the Two Oceans and Comrades marathons.
Bosch feels the situation could have been avoided if authorities had worked together to find a solution, but instead he believes, unresolved background issues and personal conflicts contributed to the scheduling overlap.
Previous Surfers winner, Andrea Ranger will be competing in her 24th Surfers this year and suggests that Buffs participants could still support Surfers by running the shorter 5km or 10km events.
