CAPE TOWN -- The Cape Town Marathon on May 24 marks the beginning of a new chapter for 41-year-old Eliud Kipchoge, where his focus will shift from relentless pursuit of marathon medals and records to leaving a legacy in Africa, both in and out of running.
Cape Town is the first stop for Kipchoge's Running World tour, which will see him run marathons on seven continents in an expected timeframe of 2-3 years.
South Africa will host the Kenyan's first marathon in Africa, which will be followed by stops in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on July 12 and Melbourne, Australia, on October 11.
The most decorated marathon runner of all-time aims to raise awareness and resources for education and climate conservation, via the Eliud Kipchoge Foundation.
The first stop is of particular significance as he seeks to boost Cape Town's bid for World Major status and bring awareness to issues close to his heart.
Kipchoge told ESPN: "I've been all around the world and gone all around the World Major marathons, but I have never seen one in Africa.
"This is an opportunity for me to run in Cape Town and make Cape Town an Abbott World Major marathon. I think that by next year, it could be one of them.
"It's not about breaking records. It's about running a beautiful race. It's about making South Africa a running nation again; it's about making Cape Town the centre of marathons in Africa and bringing the whole world there.
"I will compete, start and finish in a good way and bring all the fans. I will tell the people that it's about starting and finishing. That's an accomplishment - learning how to start and finish. That's what I'm coming for [in] Cape Town."
Eliud Kipchoge explains why he is in South Africa for the Cape Town Marathon, with the hopes of helping the city claim Africa's first World Major race.
The 2016 and 2020 Olympic marathon gold medallist Kipchoge has seen the impact of climate change firsthand through his own small-scale farming endeavours - which is why he has chosen this as one of the issues he wants to focus on bringing attention to during his world tour.
He continued: "I believe in taking care of the animals. I believe in planting food, farming vegetables, trying to do something that can help a human being. I need rain on my farm. The only way to get rain is to plant a lot of trees and [plant and protect] forests. That's one factor that actually moved me into conservation.
"I'm not a real, real, real farmer - but I am a farmer. I farm maize, I farm wheat; I take care of animals like cows. I believe that in future, I would love to one day venture into real professional farming.
"In my farming, I realised that there was a year where we didn't have rain. That's what made me think hugely about conserving the environment for my plants and my animals to get water."
According to the World Health Organisation, over two million people across Kenya faced worsening food insecurity by January 2026 as a result of one of its driest rainy seasons on record from October - December 2025.
A 2021 World Bank report had previously warned that climate change left Kenya at significant risk of extreme weather events such as floods, as well as exacerbated HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis outbreaks.
In terms of education, Kenya sits 90th out of 132 countries assessed in the World Top 20 rankings. There is often pressure on children to provide for their families at a young age, with around 5% of boys and 4% of girls of school-going age out of school as per the 2019 census.
Kipchoge said: "I need to [play a part in ensuring Africa can] tell people the stories of our families. The only way to tell the stories of our families is through education.
"In education, we need to buy books that teach us about farming in Africa."
He added that running well-functioning schools and libraries across the continent would likely lead to advances in agricultural technology.
A ruthless winning machine for most of the past 12 years, Kipchoge has picked up a record 11 World Major victories and became the first human being to run a marathon distance in under two hours in 2019 (albeit in controlled conditions, disqualifying that run from the record books).
However, his official world record of 2:01:09 was broken by the late Kelvin Kiptum in October 2023 and then again by Sabastian Sawe this year. Sawe became the first runner to break the sub-2-hour barrier in an official race, clocking 1:59:30 at the London Marathon on April 26.
In Cape Town, Kipchoge's primary goal will not be to claw back his record - a feat which would have been very difficult on a relatively tough course even at the peak of his powers.
The Cape Town Marathon course tends to have a significantly higher elevation gain than flatter marathons such as Berlin, London and Chicago, where world records are often set.
Above chasing more personal glory, Kipchoge's goal will be to engage corporate South Africa and the public at large, looking to promote causes close to his heart and help develop the sport of running.
"I'm trying to handle [the transition from all-out competition to new endeavours], but I need to really still think outside the box," he said.
"I need to train in a good way... but all in all, I need to do other things that can help humanity."