Born and raised in Pretoria, Leon Swanepoel matriculated in 1975 and was honoured with the Victor Ludorum – for athletics. For the next 15 years, he gained extensive accountancy and administrative experience. The fields of service ranged from an apprenticeship to senior management level in government, local authorities, private sector and financial institutions. He held positions as Bank Manager and Senior Accountant.
Leon not only excelled in his professional capacity but also in the sports arena. He enjoyed a lucrative career as a professional athlete from 1988 until 1990. Since 1981 the highlights of his athletic career include; Winner of the International Athens Marathon, participation in six Comrades Marathons which include, two gold medals as well as four silver medals, ninth position in the 100km World Championship and winner of several road races.
As Sport Administrator, he has more than 15 years of experience. He acted as Chairman of Magnolia Road Runners for three years, Vice Chairman for two years and Selector for three years. Under his Chairmanship, Magnolia grew to the then biggest and strongest club in Gauteng North and one of the biggest in South Africa.
He served for nine years as team manager of several Athletics Gauteng North teams at the South African Championships and served for 10 years on the Executive Committee of Athletics Gauteng North as Vice Chairman and Selector.
Leon is the recipient of several awards both as a sports administrator and athlete. These awards include Athletics Gauteng North awards and colours as team manager, administrator and athlete. He received a special award of honour for extraordinary performance on an international level. As an athlete, he represented the provincial team at the South African Championships over all distances 10km, 15 km, 21km and 42,2km. Leon was awarded best Athletics Gauteng North Athlete of the year, was honoured as Pretoria Sportsman of the month and finalist as newsmaker of the year.
He shares his knowledge and experience with students from educational institutions studying Sports Marketing and Event Management. During his professional running career, he acted as a guest speaker at various sport events and functions, participated in several radio and television interviews and has been part of the Comrades Television commentating team.
“Leon Swanepoel is one of the most influential people of the last 15 years of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge.”
As published in the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge
Anthology [1977 & Beyond]
Leon is currently the sole Director of both Sportsvendo International and Sports Endeavours International. He has excelled in sport and event marketing and has established a reputation as an outstanding professional in this field. He has conceptualised, produced and co-ordinated over 1000 successful sports events, under the name of Sportsvendo – the company he founded in 1991 – and as a result contributed to the success of several large corporations’ promotional programmes.
Leon and the Sportsvendo Team is just as comfortable with global events and brands as they are with the South African Market. First they obtained the rights and was appointed as partner in South Africa of the New York City Marathon, then successfully obtained the rights to present and produce the Powerman Duathlon World Championship in South Africa, a first for SA and Africa. The 45-year-old J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge global series expanded to South Africa in 2004 and they were appointed as the Event Coordinators, which they still are today.
Over last decade they were granted the exclusive rights for the USA brand;- The Color Run, and thereafter followed a partnership with Warner Bros and DC Comics for the presentation of Super Hero branded sport events.
Most recently they obtained the exclusive rights from the MONOPOLY Board Game team to design and produce World Class City Marathon Monopoly Board Games and the first one to be released will be the Comrades Marathon Centenary Monopoly.
Leon and the Sportsvendo team this year [2021] won the Bid for South Africa and Athletics South Africa to host the IAU 50km World Championship in 2023. Again, a First for South Africa and Africa.