By Wesley Bottom.
Gerda Steyn extended her dominance of South African ultra-distance races, storming to her fourth straight victory and shattering her own record at the Two Oceans 56km event in Cape Town on Saturday.
The 33-year-old athlete claimed a commanding win in the women’s race, covering the distance in 3:29:06 to slice 36 seconds off the mark she set last year.
She was well clear of Ethiopian athlete Amelework Fikadu Bosho who took the runner-up spot in 3:41:29, with Carla Molinaro taking third position in 3:41:29.
Steyn, who also holds the SA standard marathon record and the Comrades Marathon ‘up’ run record, added to her Two Oceans victories in 2018, 2019 and 2022 (the race was cancelled due to Covid in 2020 and 2021).
She became only the third woman to win the popular race four times, after Monica Drogemoller and Russian athlete Elena Nurgalieva.
“I tried to really not think about the record too much because the win was the first and foremost goal,” Steyn said at the finish line at the UCT upper campus sports ground Saturday morning following her fourth-successive victory at the 56km Mother City ultra “I did not want to chase the time and perhaps blow up too early. It was at the 30km mark when I saw the clock and so I knew I was on record pace. That helped calm me down because I knew I just had to maintain the pace and because my legs were still strong I knew I could still get the record.”
In the men’s race, Zimbabwean athlete Givemore Mudzinganyama had to work hard for the win in a tightly contested battle.
He completed the race in 3:09:56, holding off a challenge from South African athlete Dan Matshailwe who grabbed second spot in 3:10:19.
Nkosikhona Mhlakwane was third across the line, another 21 seconds off the pace, in 3:10:40.