Biogen 21K 2027 is a 21.1 km race on 10 January 2027, starting at 06:00 at Riley Road, Bedfordview. The course climbs about 293 m in total and has 6 water points.
From Riley Road through the hills of Bedfordview, down to the Jukskei River at Morninghill, past Eastgate and up the long climb through Primrose's flower streets to the top of the course on AG de Witt Drive, then a fast drop home to Bedfordview Country Club.
Riley Road, outside Bedfordview Country Club, Van Buuren Road. 21.1 km at 06:00, the SmectaGo 5 km Fun Run at 06:30
The bottom field of Bedfordview Country Club, with the tog bag area, club gazebos, the bar and coffee
It climbs about 293 m in total. The highest point is 1762 m above sea level, at km 18.1.
Six water points with water sachets, a few cups and toilets: km 3 (26 Florence Road), 6 (6 Homestead Road), 9 (Clarkson and Malan Roads, Morninghill, on the park side), 12 (10 Bradford Road), 15 (Cydonia and Lobelia Roads, Primrose) and 18 (AG de Witt Drive by Churchill Avenue, at the Gereformeerde church)
km 3 · 6 · 9.5 · 12 · 15 · 18.1
Six water points, placed by the addresses on the race site
Thursday 7 January at Dis-Chem Nicolway and Friday 8 January at Dis-Chem Park Meadows, 09:30 to 16:00; Saturday 9 January at Virgin Active Bedfordview, bottom field, 09:00 to 15:30. Bring a copy of your ID. On race morning, 04:30 to 06:30: numbers and temporary licences (R70, card only), nothing else
21.1 km: the start closes at 06:15 and the finish at 09:30. 5 km: the start closes at 06:45
Online only, limited to 6,000 on the 21.1 km and 1,000 on the 5 km. 21.1 km R270, R240 for juniors under 20 and grandmasters over 60, R135 for great grandmasters over 70; 5 km R125. No entries or substitutions on race day
The race's own GPX files; runners' GPS tracks from race day 2026 follow them street by street
Minimum age 16 for the 21.1 km and 5 for the 5 km. No earphones on the 21.1 km (WA rule 144.2b), no pets, bicycles or seconding. A medal for every finisher; the first 6,000 21.1 km entries get the race shirt, collected with your number. Timed by Peak Timing: the chip is in your number
Lambano Sanctuary (medical and palliative care for children) and the Namaqua Dog & Donkey Foundation (sterilising animals on the East Rand). The Dis-Chem Foundation matches every extra donation
Biogen, presented by Momentum Multiply, with SmectaGo on the 5 km and Dis-Chem. Co-sponsors: Transact, Norflex Gel, Gillette, Old Spice, Essentiale Extreme and Heneways. Hosted by Bedfordview Athletics at Bedfordview Country Club, approved by Central Gauteng Athletics
06:00 · km 0
The 21.1 km starts at 06:00 on Riley Road, outside Bedfordview Country Club, and the SmectaGo 5 km Fun Run follows at 06:30. This is the 25th running of what its organisers call Gauteng's premier half marathon, hosted by Bedfordview Athletics, with 6,000 entries on the 21.1 km. In 2026 more than 7,000 people took part: George Kusche won in 1:05:32, a course record, and Irvette van Zyl in 1:17:01. Five months later Kusche won the Comrades Marathon up run in a record 5:15:56.
km 0.6 to 2.1 · Townsend Road to Bowling Road
Right onto Townsend Road and up through Acacia, Oak and Bowling Roads: about 35 m of climbing in the first 2 km. Bedfordview grew from the farm Elandsfontein. In 1893 the Randlord Sir George Farrar bought a farm here and named it Bedford, after the English town. A naming competition was won by Daisy Dollery, who liked the view from Bedford Farm, and "Bedford View" became the suburb's official name on 24 February 1926.
km 2.1 to 3.6 · Florence Avenue
Florence Avenue runs downhill for 1.5 km, about 45 m from the top of Bowling Road to Concorde Road East. The first water point is at km 3, outside 26 Florence Road. Every water point has water sachets, a few cups for those who need them, and toilets.
km 3.6 to 4.9 · Concorde Road East and Hawley Road
Concorde Road East bottoms out near km 4, then Hawley Road climbs about 35 m past St Benedict's College towards the centre of Bedfordview.
km 4.9 to 5.4 · Thabo Mbeki Road and Van Buuren Road
The course crosses the heart of Bedfordview, by the police station and the Methodist church, on Van Buuren Road, the suburb's main road and the road the country club stands on. The town's history says British cavalry camped here during the Anglo-Boer War and planted its oaks. Bedfordview had its own town council until 2000, when it became part of the City of Ekurhuleni; the name means "place of peace" in Xitsonga.
km 5.4 to 7 · Kloof Road and Homestead Road
Kloof Road and Homestead Road drop into the valley of the Oriel stream, past Oriel Park. The second water point is at km 6, outside 6 Homestead Road. Then Lynwood Road and Kloof Road climb gently again.
km 8.6 to 9.5 · Boeing Road West, Batten Road and Malan Road
At km 3.6 you ran Concorde Road; now it is Boeing Road West, and Viscount Road and Comet Street are just around the corner: in this pocket of Bedfordview the street names are aircraft. Then Batten Road, Munday Avenue and Malan Road, down to the third water point, on the park side of Clarkson Road at the corner of Malan Road in Morninghill.
km 9.5 to 10.7 · Morninghill Park
The lowest point of the course, 1,607 m, comes just before Clarkson Road crosses the Jukskei River at Morninghill Park. The Jukskei rises from a spring near Ellis Park in central Johannesburg and runs about 50 km north to the Crocodile River, which fills Hartbeespoort Dam and flows on to the Limpopo. A jukskei, in Afrikaans, is the pin of an ox yoke. Halfway comes at km 10.55, on Munday Avenue.
km 10.7 to 12.1 · Bradford Road
Bradford Road runs south along the Bedfordview side of Eastgate. When it opened in 1979 it was the largest shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere; 13 of its 18 hectares are in Bedfordview and the rest in Johannesburg. In 1988 this race started from its car park, with a record field of 5,000. The fourth water point is at km 12, outside 10 Bradford Road, and the long climb has begun.
km 12.1 to 13.4 · Smith Road and Van der Linde Road
Smith Road passes the Bedford Centre, then Van der Linde Road climbs past Bedfordview High School: about 45 m between km 12 and 13.5, the steepest part of the long climb.
km 13.4 to 13.8 · Geldenhuis Road
This land was the farm Elandsfontein, laid out in 1853, and its later smallholdings were known as Geldenhuis Estates, the name on this road. In August 1886 two prospectors, John Jack and August Simmer, struck gold on Elandsfontein. The town they laid out was named Germiston in 1904, after Jack's father's farm near Glasgow, and the next suburb, Primrose, is part of it.
km 13.8 to 15.5 · Cydonia Road, Primrose
Cydonia Road takes you into Primrose, Germiston, and up about another 45 m. Almost every street here is a flower: Lobelia, Anemone, Dahlia, Poppy, Protea, Sunflower, Tulip. The fifth water point is at km 15, at the corner of Cydonia and Lobelia Roads.
km 15.9 to 17.3 · Beaconsfield Avenue
Beaconsfield Avenue is close to flat for 1.5 km, the last breather before the top. The race is the Biogen 21K presented by Momentum Multiply, with SmectaGo on the 5 km and Dis-Chem, and co-sponsors Transact, Norflex Gel, Gillette, Old Spice, Essentiale Extreme and Heneways. Dis-Chem has backed it since 2000, and it took the Biogen name in 2025. Bedfordview Athletics hosts it, with about 350 volunteers.
km 17.3 to 18.1 · Shamrock Road and AG de Witt Drive
Shamrock Road, the last flower, climbs about 40 m in 800 m to the highest point of the course, 1,762 m, where AG de Witt Drive begins at km 18.1. That is 155 m above the Jukskei, and at this height every breath holds about a fifth less oxygen than at the coast. The last water point is at km 18, on AG de Witt Drive by the Gereformeerde church. The finish is 3 km ahead, and 130 m below.
km 18.1 to 19.7 · AG de Witt Drive, Kloof Road and Townsend Road
From the top, AG de Witt Drive, Kloof Road and Townsend Road drop about 110 m in 1.5 km, the steepest stretch of the day. It is fast, and hard on tired legs: stay tall and let quick, light steps do the work.
km 19.7 to 20.8 · Riley Road
Riley Road, back past the start. The race runs for two charities: Lambano Sanctuary, founded in 2001, which gives medical and palliative care to children, and the Namaqua Dog & Donkey Foundation, which sterilised 487 animals in 2025. The Dis-Chem Foundation matches every extra donation, rand for rand.
km 20.9 to 21.1 · Bedfordview Country Club
The finish is on the bottom field of Bedfordview Country Club, with the tog bag area, the club gazebos, the bar and coffee, and every finisher gets a medal. Bedfordview Athletics first ran a half marathon from this club in 1981: Johnny Halberstadt won in 1:07:01 and Sonja Laxton in 1:24:15, and about 700 runners finished. The official cut-off is 09:30.
Route: the race's own GPX files on biogen21.co.za (the half marathon drawn on Strava as "Biogen 21.1km 2025 V2"), which runners' GPS tracks from race day 2026 follow street by street, scaled to 21.1 km; street names from OpenStreetMap. Water points: the six on the race site, placed by their addresses. Date, times, cut-off, rules, entries, sponsors and charities: biogen21.co.za. History: Modern Athlete, the Bedfordview and Edenvale News and Wikipedia. Results: Modern Athlete and Daily Maverick