What You Need to Qualify for the 2027 Two Oceans Ultra Marathon
The 2027 Two Oceans Ultra has 21,000 places, and every single one requires a qualifier: a sub-5:00 marathon (or an equivalent longer race) run after 30 May 2026, a minimum age of 20 on race day, and for South African runners, a club membership with a permanent ASA licence. The race has now also confirmed how the ballot works: one entry covering two ballots, open 5 to 16 August, with results on 18 August and payment due by 31 August.
The short version
The 2027 Totalsports Two Oceans Ultra Marathon takes place on Sunday, 4 April 2027, with a record 21,000 places on offer. But unlike the Half, you can't simply enter the ballot and hope: every Ultra runner must first prove they can go the distance.
To stand on the start line in Cape Town you need three things:
- A qualifying race: a marathon in under 5 hours, or an equivalent time over a longer distance, run after 30 May 2026
- To be 20 years or older on race day
- If you're South African (or living and working in SA), membership of an official running club with a permanent ASA licence. Temporary licences are not accepted for the Ultra.
With the Blue Number Club entry window opening 15 July 2026 and the general ballot running from 5 to 16 August 2026, now is the time to get your qualifying plans in order.
The qualifying standards
Any World Athletics (ASA in South Africa) affiliated marathon or longer race counts as a qualifier, provided the course is officially measured and the race officially timed. The standards scale with distance:
- 42.2km (marathon): sub 5:00
- 48km: sub 6:00
- 50km: sub 6:30
- 56.6km: sub 7:00
- 90km (think Comrades): sub 12:00
- 100km and up: sub 13:30
Not sure where you stand? Drop your time into our Two Oceans qualifying calculator and get an instant answer, along with every ballot date that matters.
For most runners the marathon is the practical route. A sub-5:00 marathon works out to roughly 7:06/km, which is an honest but very achievable target for anyone who has built up sensibly. If you're still finding your rhythm at shorter distances, our guide to finding your running pace is a good place to calibrate.
Only races run after 30 May 2026 count for the 2027 Ultra, and your qualifying details must be loaded on the entry system before the profile update deadline, which falls a few weeks before race day. Don't leave it to the last qualifying weekend: injuries, bad weather and full races have ended plenty of Two Oceans dreams in March.
Your qualifier sets your batch
Here's the part many first-timers miss: your qualifying time isn't just a ticket in, it decides where you start. The Ultra field is seeded into 19 batches, with faster qualifiers toward the front and slower qualifiers further back. Once allocated, batch changes are not permitted, so the marathon you qualify with is the seeding you race with.
The good news is that the clock is fair: the 7-hour cut-off runs gun-to-mat from your own batch's start, so a back-batch start doesn't cost you finishing time. But there are in-race cut-offs along the route, at Sun Valley (around 24.5km), halfway (28km), Rhodes Drive and the 50km mark, and they're calculated off the final batch. A stronger qualifier buys you cleaner roads, less congestion in the early kilometres, and more breathing room at every cut-off table.
The maths is blunt: scraping in with a 4:59 marathon means spending race day with the cut-offs breathing down your neck. Aim to qualify with room to spare, both for your seeding and for your sanity on Chapman's Peak.
Entries, the new two-ballot system and fees
Qualifying is only half the battle: you still need an entry. The Ultra is oversubscribed even at 21,000 places, so entries run through a ballot, and the race has now confirmed exactly how it will work for 2027.
New this year is a "Two Ballots. One Entry." system. When you enter, you choose one of three options: the Ultra, the Half Marathon, or both. Pick both and you nominate a preferred event; runners drawn in both ballots receive only their preferred event's entry, so nobody blocks two places.
The dates to diarise:
- Blue Number Club members (runners with 10 or more Ultra finishes) get a priority window from Wednesday, 15 July to Wednesday, 22 July 2026
- Qualifying Discovery Bank clients get an exclusive pre-sale from 28 to 31 July, first come, first served, with no ballot needed
- The general ballot runs from 5 to 16 August 2026
- Draw results land on 18 August, with successful and unsuccessful applicants both notified
- Successful runners must pay within the payment window of 18 to 31 August, or the entry is released. Like-for-like substitutions are allowed later for a R210 fee.
One wrinkle for the ambitious: the ballot alone won't get you two bibs, but runners who want to race both the Ultra and the Half over the weekend have two routes in. A limited number of TOMI entries go on sale at a premium fee from 3 August, first come, first served. If you miss those, charity entries become available from October.
The rest of race week (the Night Run on 31 March, International Friendship Run on 1 April and Trail Runs on 2 April) skips the ballot entirely: those entries are first come, first served from 3 August 2026.
Entry fees for 2027 are still to be confirmed; as a guide, the 2026 Ultra cost R840 for licensed South African runners, £55 for the rest of Africa and £165 for international entrants.
A sensible route to the start line
If the Ultra is your 2027 goal, the calendar works neatly backwards from Cape Town:
- Now to spring: build a consistent base. If you're newer to structured training, start with the fundamentals: good running form and staying injury-free matter far more over 56km than any single workout.
- Spring to summer: race your qualifier. South Africa's marathon season offers no shortage of officially measured, well-timed options: find a race near you and target one two to four months before April so you can qualify fresh, not desperate.
- January to March 2027: long runs, hills, and respect for the distance. Two Oceans climbs Chapman's Peak and Constantia Nek after 40km; the runners who finish strong are the ones who trained for the second half.
A sub-5:00 marathon, a valid licence, twenty years on the clock and a bit of ballot luck. That's the price of admission to the world's most beautiful marathon. And with 7,000 more places than last year, the odds have never been better.