RMB Ultra-Trail Cape Town (RMB UTCT), an international trail running event set on the slopes of Table Mountain National Park in South Africa, returns from November 20–22, 2026, with the introduction of a new trophy and prize money for top-performing African athletes.
Organised as part of the World Trail Majors series, RMB UTCT offers six race distances: the 100-miler, 100km, 55km, 35km, 23km, and 16km. The event features a total combined prize purse of more than R800,000 (c. US$50,000).
New for the 2026 edition is the RMB Pride of Africa Award, which will recognise the first African man and first African woman to cross the finish line in the flagship UT100 race. Winners will receive the RMB Pride of Africa trophy, designed by South African artist Robbie Rorich, along with R25,000 in prize money. For an athlete who wins the UT100 race outright, the new award raises total potential earnings to R100,000. Participants in the UT100 race navigate almost 5,000m of elevation gain across Table Mountain and Karbonkelberg.
Michael Edwards, Sponsorship Marketing Lead at RMB, said “The RMB Pride of Africa Award is all about celebrating exceptional African trail-running talent, which we believe our continent has in abundance. However, much of this promise still needs to be unearthed and developed. We’ve already seen first-hand how, with the right support, gifted runners can develop into elite athletes and flourish on the trail-running circuit.
“RMB is privileged to have had a front-row seat to the growth of homegrown trail-running talent, and we hope the new prize will help create further opportunities and incentives for African athletes to compete on the world stage and hold their own against the best in the world.”
The initiative comes ahead of the World Athletics World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, which will be held in Cape Town from October 6–10, 2027, marking the first time the championships will take place in Africa. RMB UTCT forms part of the qualification pathway for the 2027 championships.
The event has also supported development pathways for South African runners through the LIV2Run programme, supported by RMB in partnership with the FirstRand Foundation. Earlier this year, LIV2Run athletes Sinovuyo Ngcobo and Tsielo Tsanyane competed in Europe at the Experience Trail Courmayeur (ETC), a 15km alpine trail race with 1,200m of elevation gain held during HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc race week in France, with both finishing inside the top 6% of the field. Both athletes are scheduled to take part in the 35km race at RMB UTCT 2026.
Sinovuyo Ngcobo said “UTMB was a good experience; it was interesting to see the level of running there and experience the big mountains. What I learned there is to change my mind set to suit the course, and to adjust the level of training needed to perform on that stage.”
Tsielo Tsanyane added “I learned that Europe is not the same as South Africa in terms of the terrain and level of competition. The race was tough and not what I’m used to, so I learned a lot from the experience.”
Lindi Meyer, founder of LIV2Run, said “We are beyond proud of Tsielo and Sinovuyo for the physical and symbolic mountains they have conquered, especially over the past year. It’s no small feat for two development’s athletes from South Africa to leave their country and their comfort zone, take on the most prestigious trail race in the world and excel. And we strongly believe that their achievement is just the start of greater things to come, not only in their own lives but in the lives of the next generation of trial runners coached by them.”
As an event, RMB UTCT routinely draws almost 3,000 runners, with approximately one-third consisting of international participants. RMB also supports conservation initiatives associated with the event through the RMB UTCT Trail Fund, including the Sugarbird Project, Sustainable Cedar, and Friends of Table Mountain.
The 2026 race line-up comprises:
- UTCT: 100-miler route covering the Northern Mountain Range to Noordhoek.
- UT100: 100km flagship championship route across Karbonkelberg and Table Mountain.
- PT55: 55km route from Llandudno to Newlands Forest.
- TM35: 35km route across Table Mountain.
- EX23: 23km route from Alphen Greenbelt to Table Mountain.
- KS16: 16km route on Table Mountain.
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