Cape Town marks one year until the 2027 World Mountain and Trail Championships

World Athletics used this week's one year mark to confirm plans for the 2027 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Cape Town, the first time the event has been held on African soil. Races run from October 6 to 10, 2027, on the trails of Table Mountain, with organisers Golazo South Africa, Athletics South Africa and Western Province Athletics running the show alongside World Athletics.

It is the fourth edition of the combined mountain and trail championships, and the first World Championship in any athletics discipline staged in South Africa since 1993. Medals will be handed out in five disciplines: Uphill, Classic, Classic U20, Short Trail and Long Trail, each contested for individual and team titles.

Organisers expect more than 2,000 amateur runners to join mass participation races on sections of the championship course, alongside the elite fields that will fight for the titles. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe called mountain and trail running a sport that is "experiencing a real boom," pointing to the growth in entries and media interest across the discipline over the past few years.

South African trail runner Toni McCann said the event could leave a lasting mark on the next generation of runners in the country. Cape Town already hosts the Cape Town Marathon, the Two Oceans Marathon and the multi-race Ultra-Trail Cape Town weekend, so the city has the race infrastructure and the fan base in place.

A year out is normally just a press release. This one isn't: a World Championship on Table Mountain means a genuine selection event for mountain and trail nations that have never had a home race to build around.

Sources: World Athletics; EWN; iRunFar.