CAPE TOWN – Runners are gearing up for this year’s race, the 52nd edition of the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon that will take place in Cape Town this weekend.
In just less than 24 hours away approximately 29 000 runners are expected to take on the ultra and half marathons.
The first race to kickstart things this weekend is the Ultra Marathon on Saturday, 15 April while the half marathon takes place on Sunday.
Someone who sets eyes on the prize again this year, is three-time winner, Gerda Steyn. Last year Steyn broke Frith van der Merwe’s long standing Two Oceans Marathon course record of 3:30:36, which she set in 1989 after clocking 3:29:42.
She says this year things will be different and she won’t underestimate other fellow runners.
“I’m very excited to be back again this year, I can’t believe it’s a year since we’ve been here. I think we can all expect a good race with the weather being spectacular tomorrow,” said Steyn.
“There’ll be a lot of ladies who will be pushing to the finish tomorrow, something that will make the race interesting and exciting.
“This year we have so much certainty, we knew everything on time – we had so much time to train and reflect compared to 2022 where we came from coronavirus. We did not have much time to train.”
The 33-year-old Free State-born recently just joined the KwaZulu Natal-based club, the Phantane Athletics Club.
Steyn couldn’t hold her excitement of running under new colours.
“I’m excited to now represent both Totalsports and Phantane as well as Adidas, it’s really amazing to have a strong team behind me,” she said.
“This is helping both sides, me and them in terms of exposure to see that there’s so much support for the runners in South Africa.”
Steyn added that pressure will be mounting as she sets to defend her title.
“Certainly both the Ethiopians and Kenyan ladies who are running this year will definitely give me a hard time but as expected it wasn’t gonna be easy,” she adds.
“Both finished in a good place last year, and I am sure they will be hungry to improve their times this year. I am aware of strong competition but I know it is what race is about.”
