Don Lock Memorial Race 2026 is an 8 km race on Sunday 25 October, starting at 08:00 at Water Street, Claremont, Cape Town. The course climbs about 42 m in total and has 2 water points.
The original Don Lock: the old five-miler, run or walk, from Claremont Primary up Milner Road to Rondebosch Common and home down Camp Ground Road.
08:00, Water Street beside Claremont Primary School, Palmyra Road, Claremont
On the sports field beside Claremont Primary School. Cut-off 09:45, prize-giving at 10:00
It climbs about 42 m in total. The highest point is 32 m above sea level, at km 7.
Water and Coke at about 3 and 6 km. Carry your own if you can; no personal seconding
km 3 · 6
Claremont Primary School: Friday 23 October, 16:00 to 19:00, Saturday 24 October, 10:00 to 16:00, and race morning from 05:00, with late entries
Online until midnight on Thursday 22 October: seniors R110 licensed, R170 unlicensed; juniors R70 and R110; free for licensed runners over 70. Age 12 and up, walkers welcome. Every finisher gets the 120th-anniversary medal, Tia's muesli and a Cadbury ice cream
Run the 15 km at 06:00 and this race for a special Double Deal medal. Double Deal runners must start the 8 km by 08:05
08:00 · km 0
The 8 km starts two hours after the 15 km, from the same spot on Water Street beside Claremont Primary School. This is the original Don Lock: Celtic Harriers member Alex Jones started it in 1960 as a five-mile race, in memory of his friend and clubmate Don Lock, who had been killed in a car accident. Runners and walkers are welcome from the age of 12; 903 people finished it in 2025.
km 0.3 to 1.5 · Queen Victoria Road and Cook Road
Celtic Harriers was founded in August 1906 by young Cape Town runners, many of Irish descent: hence the name, the harp on the badge and the green and white hoops. In 1970 the club put on the first Celtic 35 Mile Road Race, which grew into the Two Oceans Marathon. Every finisher this year gets a new medal for the club's 120th year.
km 1.8 · Belvedere Road
In the little park beside Belvedere Square stands a steam locomotive built in 1896. It worked at a coal mine near Witbank, then shunted at Cape Town's Dock Road and Table Bay power stations, where it was nicknamed Dyna-Mo, and came here when the power stations closed in 1962.
km 2.3 to 4.3 · Milner Road
Two kilometres north on Milner Road, with the first water point at about 3 km, past the Marsh Memorial Homes, a children's home since 1903. At km 3.9 you cross the Black River, which rises in Arderne Gardens in Claremont: the lowest point of the course, 11 metres above the sea.
km 4.3 to 4.9 · Park Road
West along Park Road beside Rondebosch Common, with Devil's Peak ahead, to the rock at its south-west corner. Batavian troops camped here in 1795 and British soldiers for years after, which is why it was the Camp Ground. It has been a National Monument since 1961 and keeps a rare patch of critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos. The first Don Lock started and finished on the Common.
km 4.9 to 6.4 · Camp Ground Road
South on Camp Ground Road. St Thomas's church on your left was designed by Sophy Gray, wife of the first Bishop of Cape Town, and opened in 1865 as the Camp Ground mission chapel. Rondebosch Park beside it was part of the Common until 1870. The second water point is at about 6 km.
km 6.4 to 8 · Palmyra Road
Palmyra Road is the highest point of the course, 32 metres, at km 7. Then St Leger Road past Claremont Primary, St Michaels Road and across the sports field to the finish. The race records are John September's 22:51 from 1994 and Elana Meyer's 25:35 from 2000; she won it five times. In 2025 Edward Jack won the 15 km and then this race in 24:33. Every finisher gets the club's 120th-anniversary medal, a bag of Tia's muesli and a Cadbury ice cream.
Route: a runner's race-day GPS track of the 2023 8 km (Ride with GPS), matched to OpenStreetMap; the organisers publish no 8 km map. Times, water and entries: the official flyer