Venter’s Visionary Race

The Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon was first run in 1970, and there is an interesting story behind that first edition of what is now one of the biggest and most internationally renowned races in South Africa. – By Sean Falconer

The fledgling idea for the Two Oceans Marathon was born in the late 1960s when former Durban-based runner Dave Venter was transferred to Cape Town by his then employers, BP Southern Africa. To his great disappointment, Venter found that running in the Cape was very much behind Durban, where the 90km Comrades Marathon had been on the calendar since 1921. He had been a keen member of Savages Athletic Club and had run his first Comrades in 1967, just a year after starting to run at age 36, but in the Cape in 1968, there were only a handful of marathons to choose from and no ultra-marathons.

Venter ran the Stellenbosch Marathon, which only had about 20 entrants, and then had to wait several months for the Western Province Marathon in Bellville, which attracted a mere five entrants. Shortly after this, he took two months’ leave and returned to Natal to run his second Comrades, as well as the Bergville/Ladysmith Ultra. He was actually playing with the idea of asking BP for a transfer back to Natal, but after discussing it with former clubmate Gerry Treloar of Savages, he decided to give the Cape another chance. This after Treloar said, “Now that you’re there, why don’t you try and improve long-distance running in Cape Town?”

That convinced Venter to try to start an ultra with a similar distance to the Bergville/Ladysmith, around 35 miles, as he reasoned that runners in Cape Town planning to run the Comrades would enter it as a training run. However, when he took the idea to Celtic Harriers, the club committee said they didn’t feel there was any need for such a race in Cape Town.

The Western Province Amateur Athletic Association (WPAAA) also turned the idea down, but help was at hand. Through Celtic Harriers secretary Harold Berman, Dave was introduced to The Argus sports reporter Bryan Grieve, who lent his public support to the idea. At the same time, Stewart Banner was elected chairman of the WPAAA, and he too gave a favourable response, so Venter decided to try again. He went back to Celtic Harriers and said if the club would give him its backing, he would take care of all arrangements and ensure the club was not involved in any way.

Convincing the Doubters

With that agreement in place, Venter attended a WPAAA committee meeting in late 1969, and after a heated debate, he was finally given permission to hold the race on 2 May 1970 – just one week after the Peninsula Marathon, in spite of the small number of long distance races on the calendar at that time. Interestingly, the most outspoken critic of the idea was journalist and statistician Harry Beinart, who said he did not see the point of a 35-mile event!

Meanwhile, the WPAAA said the race should take place in May, at the end of the track and field season, so as not to impact other events on the calendar, and added one further strict condition: The race should not interfere with the cross country event scheduled for that afternoon – and Celtic Harriers echoed this condition!

With that hurdle out the way, Venter had an easy decision to make. His favourite training route ran through Muizenberg, Fish Hoek and Noordhoek, over Chapman’s Peak Drive, through Hout Bay, up Constantia Nek Drive and Rhodes Drive, down past Kirstenbosch, offering an incredibly scenic route measuring the approximate distance he was looking for, so the choice of route was simple. He also found a suitable venue for the start and finish by asking BP if he could use their Impala Park grounds in Newlands, and BP donated a floating trophy for the winner.

Getting to the Start Line

The race flyer for the first Celtic 35 Mile Road Race duly went out, with extra emphasis on this being a perfect training run for those planning to run the Comrades. The entry fee was set at 50 cents, with entries closing on 29 April. Runners would need to supply their own seconds to compliment the sponges and drinks available at the 10, 20 and 30-mile markers, where timekeepers would be stationed to record each runner’s progress. The top three finishers would receive prizes, thanks to Venter donating some of the prizes he’d won in Durban, and he also contributed another R6 in order to buy a few extra awards.

Race day arrived, with a small but intrepid group of 24 runners lining up on a wet, blustery morning in Newlands. Dirkie Steyn would go on to win that first edition of the race, in 3:55:50 – and remarkably, he ran the entire race barefoot! It was the start of 50-plus years of incredible running around the Cape Peninsula, and out of that first, small race was to grow one of the biggest running events on the South African calendar.

Four in a Row for Gerda, and Givemore Catches the Big Fish!

While Givemore Mudzinganyama landed ‘the big fish’ to win the men’s title at the 2023 edition of the Totalsports Two Oceans 56km Ultra Marathon, the women’s race was once again a triumph for Gerda Steyn, who raced to a second consecutive course record, and an unprecedented fourth successive win in ‘The World’s Most Beautiful Marathon.’

Steyn simply had too much speed and strength for the valiant Ethiopian quartet of Amelwork Bosho, Yeshiemebet Nguse, Tinebeb Ali and Ashakech Yami, who claimed four Two Oceans gold medals for their country – another first in Two Oceans history.

While Steyn’s husband, Duncan Ross, is an airline pilot, it was the Free State-born athlete who was doing the flying in this race. Although slowing slightly on the race’s biggest climb up Constantia Nek, she had enough in the bag to be able to savour her moment of victory, high-fiving fans in the finish straight as she came home in 3 hours 29 minutes and six seconds. This shaved another 36 seconds off the stunning 3:29:42 she posted last year to finally eclipse the legendary Frith van der Merwe’s magic mark of 3:30:36, which had stood since 1989.

The new course record doubled Steyn’s R250,000 first prize to half a million, thanks to the record incentive of R250,000 put up by title sponsor Totalsports, and the win also earned her the use of a Kia car for twelve months, both in South Africa and abroad, thanks to the event’s official vehicle sponsor.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so emotional at the finish,” remarked Steyn in the post-race press conference. “My whole family was here to welcome me. I just love this race, and will certainly be back next year, and hopefully for many years to come.

“My main aim was simply to go for my fourth win. I was racing head-to-head with the Ethiopian athletes for the first half and on Chappies before I was able to move ahead.  But I thought the record might come if I maintained a good pace. At 50km, I worked out that if I ran 3:30 per kilometre to the finish, I still would still have a few extra seconds to enjoy the moment!” she added.

Remarkably, Steyn did those calculations in her head while running at a high intensity, after 50km of tough racing, no doubt using skills learnt in her former career as a qualified quantity surveyor. “This was a much more enjoyable race than last year’s one,” admitted Steyn. “I did experience a tough patch on Constantia Nek, but nothing like the ‘dark place’ I had to run through last year. But looking back, I’m pleased I had to endure that last year, as it gave me another tool which I can use in racing.”

Making the Right Move

Zimbabwe-born and Johannesburg-based Mudzinganyama came into the 2023 Two Oceans with a limited record in the event. He finished 12th in the 2015 Half Marathon, and then earned an impressive runners-up medal behind Kane Reilly in the 2018 Long Trail race. After experiencing considerable success as a trail athlete, including a hattrick of wins at the Cape Town Peace Trail 21km and partnering Edwin Sesipi to victory in the AFRICANX Trailrun, Mudzinganyama pondered his future as an athlete.

“I love trail running, but you can’t easily make a living in that discipline,” admitted Mudzinganyama. “So, after working at the ASICS shoe store in Johannesburg, I opted to become a full-time professional athlete and joined up with Hendrick Ramaala and his club, Entsika.”

But it was a lesson in fishing that was responsible for Mudzinganyama’s path to Oceans glory. “I was struck by what our manager said at our club’s end of year meeting last November,” said Mudzinganyama. “He said that while you could earn some smaller income with running regular shorter-distance road races, if you can ‘catch one big fish a year,’ you could make a real living. He was talking about the big races in South Africa, including Two Oceans, Comrades, Cape Town Marathon and Soweto Marathon. I liked what he said, and decided to try to catch my fish in the Two Oceans!  Training with Coach Ramaala’s running group at Zoo Lake has made a big difference and prepared me well for today.”

Close Racing at the Top

Mudzinganyama’s win was a product of good planning, great timing and superb execution, but it didn’t come easily. Shaking off charismatic Nedbank athlete, Dan Matshailwe, in the final quarter of the climb to Constantia Nek, Mudzinganyama surged past Maxed Elite’s race leader, Lesotho’s Lebello Mopenyane, on the approach to Kirstenbosch. However, Matshailwe’s race was not yet run, and he came back strongly, and also in the mix was last year’s runner-up, Nkosikhona Mhlakwana, who finally found his race legs and was flying through the field to set up a thrilling finish for the second successive year.

It was anyone’s race, but Mudzinganyama was as good as his name, and ‘gave a little more’ when he needed it most. Although the Mpumalanga-based Matshailwe put in a storming finish after struggling with his quadriceps earlier, the Zimbabwean was never going to concede victory and he held on in superb style to claim victory in 3:09:56. Matshailwe crossed the line 23 seconds later, with Mhakwana 21 seconds further back in third.

Remarkably, just as was the case last year, the first two across the line were Two Oceans Ultra Marathon debutants, with Mudzinganyama racing further than he has ever done before.  Entiska gained their second gold medal with Msawenkosi Mthalane coming home fourth, 40 seconds clear of Mopenyane, who had led race from shortly before halfway until he was overhauled by Mudzinganyama just over 5 km from home. Six clubs shared the 10 gold medals on offer, with Maxed Elite bagging three golds, Ensika and Nedbank two each, and one each from Hollywood, Phantane and Murray & Roberts.

Fighting for the Podium

Meanwhile, the women’s race was an intense affair in the early stages as the lead quintet jockeyed for position. Steyn seemed to have made the decisive break on Chapman’s Peak, but the game Ethiopian athlete, Ali, momentarily regained the joint lead with her on the Chappies descent. Once Ali conceded defeat and dropped back again, there was little doubt as to the destiny of the 2023 winner’s trophy as Steyn powered away again, but the battle for the rest of the podium places delivered its share of excitement.

After a deliberately conservative start, another Ethiopian, Bosho, moved up through the field, overhauling her compatriots in the final quarter of the race to move into second place.  Running strongly, she looked certain for second, but a fast-finishing Carla Molinaro, who returned to Cape Town and the land of her birth at the end of last year ‘to find some sun’ after an extended period in Great Britain, appeared out of nowhere, closing fast on Bosho.

In the end, Bosho clinched second in 3:41:29, a massive 12 minutes 23 seconds behind Steyn, but just nine seconds clear of a flying Molinaro. “That was the run of my life,” said the delighted Molinaro, who raced through the standard marathon mark in Hout Bay in 2:46, just a few seconds off her personal best for that distance. “I can’t believe my race today – it was just perfect!”

Two Oceans Champ Gerda Steyn Joins Phantane AC

It was announced today that three-time Totalsports Two Oceans Ultra Marathon winner, Gerda Steyn, has joined the KZN-based Phantane Athletics Club. Steyn, will be running in the club colours of Phantane for all of her races on South African soil in coming months, including the 2023 Totalsports Two Oceans Ultra Marathon on Saturday 15 April.

In 2022, Steyn broke Frith van der Merwe’s longstanding Two Oceans course record (3:30:36, set in 1989) when she clocked 3:29:42 for the 56km ultra as she won her third consecutive title in the event. She also won in 2018, clocking 3:39:31, and scored a repeat win in 2019 with a 3:31:28 finish, less than a minute outside the then course record. (The race did not take place in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID pandemic).

Steyn therefore currently has three wins, placing her joint second on the all-time list of Two Oceans winners alongside fellow three-time women’s winners Bev Malan (1982, 1983, 1985), Angelina Sephooa (1997, 1998, 1999) and Olesya Nurgalieva (2008, 2010, 2011), as well as men’s winners Siphiwe Gqele (1983, 1984, 1985) and Marko Mambo (2004, 2005, 2008).

Only two athletes have won the race four times, and both are women: Monica Drögemöller (1988, 1990, 1991, 1992) and Elena Nurgalieva (2004, 2005, 2009, 2012). If Steyn wins again in 2023, she will join them on four wins, but will also become the first athlete to post four consecutive wins in the event, and she will become the first athlete to win a fourth title while also being the course record-holder.

When asked about her decision to join the Phantane club, Steyn said, “It is such an honour to represent Phantane Athletics Club. The club prides itself on the development of athletes and to be part of the club feels incredible.”

On behalf of the club, the Club Manager, Mdu Khumalo, said that Gerda joining the club is a huge milestone for Phantane: “It is a privilege to have an elite runner like Gerda running in our colours.”

Totalsports, as sponsor of Phantane Athletics Club as well as title sponsor of the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon, welcomes Gerda to the team and looks forward to watching her in action this coming year.

Under Armour Flexes On The Launch Of Its Most Versatile Trainer Yet!

When Apollo Brands PTY LTD (official distributor of Under Armour in South Africa) launches a new trainer, you can expect technology to be at its very core.

The new UA Flex To Flow, dropping in stores nationwide on 23 February 2023, is lightweight and durable, with cushioning that provides a comfortably snug fit, making it the perfect go-to trainer for any sports activity at any level of training. It provides the ideal structure and support in all the right places while also assisting with the natural flex of your foot.

We Test The Shoe!

Our Sales Director, Richard Laskey, gave Under Armour’s new Flex to Flow cross-trainer a wear test, and says UA is so right when they say this shoe takes training to a whole new level!

Richard used the shoe in a multitude of disciplines, from running on the treadmill, jumping squats, to some strength work, using heavy weights, and his feedback from all of it was that this is one of the most versatile training shoes on the market. To show you what we mean, we made a video showing Rich putting the shoe through its paces, and you can see for yourself how amazing the shoe is.

 

 

Built using Under Armour’s signature Warp technology, the UA Flex To Flow works in unison with the foot to support you during each stride. It perfectly moulds to the foot for increased performance as your feet move through your workout regime.

Whether its HIIT training, cross fit, boot camp, or even pilates, its versatility is wherein the technology lies. The UA Flex To Flow provides excellent energy return, incredible consistency and dependable durability, which will keep you reaching for your new favourite pair.

The breathable fabric allows cool air to circulate while allowing humid air to escape. The upper is finished with a lacing system that secures the mid-foot for distraction-free strides.

 

The new UA Flex To Flow will be available in both men and women sizes with a recommended retail price of R2 999, and will be available in stores and online at https://underarmour.co.za

Win Your Own UA Flex to Flow!