The third edition of the event will once again feature a 42.2km marathon, 21.1km half marathon, 10km road race and a 5km fun run, all to the beat of the '80s, '90s and '00s music on route.

For a second year running, the Music Marathon will start and finish at the sports grounds at the Tempe Military base. The reason for this is largely due to safety as it allows for the runners to compete a fair-sized section of the route in the base. The marathon and half marathon will also head out of Tempe, while the 10km and 5km fun run will be run in its entirety in the military grounds.

The event organiser, Gordon van Wyk, said with logistics in mind Tempe works a lot better, and he also confirmed that there will be a change to the 42.2 km route. 

"The whole idea venue-wise was to have a safer environment as the 10km and fun run will be completed within the premises of Tempe, which makes it so much safer for the runners. I also think that the whole vibe at the start-finish creates added value to the race.

"The 21.1 km for this year is pretty much the same, nothing has really changed. We had an ear on the ground. The marathon route was not the easiest route. We decided that we are not going to let the runners go through Basil Read Street twice but only once. This will help them a little. 

"Then we incorporated OFM in this year's route. The marathon runners will run past the offices twice, so that also adds a little different spice to the race.

"There is a lot to look forward to. The marathon route is definitely a little easier this year. Let's see what the time difference is to last year's, the winning time last year was 2:36:00. 

"We are looking forward to the new route, and we are looking forward to hearing the comments about the route after the race."

Runners who have not pre-entered online still have until Friday evening 8pm to register at the Bloemfontein Achilles club in Att Horak Street.

The 42.2 km starts on Saturday morning at 5:30 and the cut-off time of 5 hours. The 21.1 km starts at 6:00 with the cut-off time being 3 hours. The 10 km gets underway at 6:30 and the runners have two hours to complete the course. The 5 km fun run gets underway at 7:00.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport