Cape Town Marathon organisers went to Sandton to launch the 2019 edition of their gold label race on Thursday afternoon‚ saying new incentive bonuses were being introduced.

In total R2.4m would be available in prize money and incentives — an increase of R200‚000 — with the men’s and women’s winners getting R265‚000‚ race director Janet Welham said on Thursday.

A further R100‚000 is available to the first South Africans home.

Breaking the course record is worth another R100‚000.

There are other incentives‚ including time bonuses for the elite runners based on the IAAF points system.

Welham said at the Johannesburg headquarters of title sponsor Sanlam that entries this year would be capped at 13‚500‚ although she would like to see it eventually grow to 20‚000.

The total cost of staging the race‚ including sponsorships and services in kind‚ is in the region of R20m to R25m.

The Cape Town Marathon‚ the brainchild of Olympic medallist Elana Meyer and former Bok captain Francois Pienaar‚ was launched in 2014.