Category: News

 Entries for the 2017 Old Mutual Two Oceans Ultra Marathon are open! Entries for next year’s race opened on Thursday, 1 September 2016 and with only 11000 entries available, we trust you’ll secure your spot?

Entries for the Half Marathon, 12km Trail Run, 22k Trail Run and the Fun Runs are not yet open and the date will be confirmed at a later stage. Runners will be able to change their entries – seeding updates, upgrades and substitutions (substitutions will only be done if all available entries have sold out).

These changes can only be done online between 9 January and 6 March 2017 – NO CHANGES whatsoever will be permitted after this date. Please note that only ONE entry change is allowed per entry (i.e. if you upgrade, you cannot also substitute the original entry; only one substitution per entry.

NO DOWNGRADES from the Ultra to the Half Marathon will be entertained whatsoever and similarly, NO DOWNGRADES from the Long Trail to the Short Trail will be entertained whatsoever.

Runners who have entered the Half Marathon can upgrade to the Ultra Marathon IF they have qualified and belong to an athletics club. The cost is R265 (this is the difference between the Half Marathon and Ultra Marathon entry fee) and can be done by logging into the online system and following the instructions. No Upgrades will be accommodated when the Ultra Marathon entries are sold out.

It is the runner's responsibility to find a suitable substitute as we do not keep a list – both if you are not running or want to run. One can only substitute a runner in the same race – i.e. a Half Marathon South African entrant can only be substituted by a Half Marathon South African that wants to participate. Please note that Ultra Marathon substitutions will only be done once the 11 000 entries have been reached, provided that this is before 6 March 2017.  Substitutions will be allowed in the Half Marathon and both the Trail Runs.

For more information and to enter, click here.

The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) assisted one of its official charities, The Wildlands Conservation Trust, in their tree planting initiative on Tuesday Morning.

Wildlands inspired many businesses and other organisations in the region by setting itself an ambitious goal of planting 100 000 trees during National Arbour week, which takes place during the first week of September every year.

The saplings, all of which are indigenous varieties, were grown and nurtured by ‘tree-preneurs’ who barter with Wildlands for livelihood support items such as; building materials, water tanks, bicycles, food hampers or groceries.

Several local businesses came out in support of the beautiful greening initiative, by availing their staff to join in the tree planting. Thereby contributing to a greener and more sustainable future for the citizens of Pietermaritzburg.

CMA General Manager, Chris Fisher said, “We value the incredible work done by Wildlands. As an official Comrades Charity and as an organisation at the forefront of conservation efforts and with a deep commitment to bettering the social and environmental landscape with significant projects, we could not help but get involved.”

Fisher adds, “Our mission and goals are well aligned to serve the communities in which we operate and give back to society in meaningful ways.”

The Old Mutual Soweto Marathon has extended the submission deadline for all three race day categories to this year’s race, the Soweto Marathon Trust said today.

“Owing to a large number of requests and last-minute enquiries that we have received from both athletes as well as the interested public, we have decided to extend the deadline from midnight Monday, 5 September to the same time on Tuesday, 4 October 2016.

We urge anyone wanting to partake in any of the categories (42.2km, 21.1km or 10km) to register online before the revised closing date as under no circumstances will any extensions be granted thereafter,” said the Chairman of the Soweto Marathon Trust Sello Khunou.

Now in its 23^rd edition, the race fondly known as ‘The People’s Race’ was born out of the need to encourage South African’s to celebrate the country’s history, it’s people and its traditions offer a great opportunity for even the casual runner to enjoy the 10km run come Sunday, 6 November 2016.

Race registration can be done online at www.sowetomarathon.com. For more information visit www.sowetomarathon.com or email [email protected]. Our call centre numbers are 0619171001 and 0619181002. The call centre operating hours are from Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm.

For alternative information, please contact Caroline Malan [email protected].

Digital is great, but sometimes you just cannot go without the feeling of a real magazine in your hand. Take a look at this amazing offer that we have for you!

Get your very own October issue of Modern Athlete Magazine, together with the 2017 Comrades Marathon Training Guide for FREE, and for every month thereafter pay only R18 per month on a debit order basis.

Yip, that's right folks. No long-term contract. Simply subscribe and we’ll get your first copy to you pronto!

Fans at the Olympic Stadium in Rio are in a dream world and have been afforded the chance to see the fastest men in the world in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m in the same Olympic Games. 24-year-old Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa stunned the world by running 43.03 seconds on his way to 400m gold on Sunday night.

Wayde bagged his gold medal shortly before Bolt grabbed the 100m title. Wayde's incredible sprint bettered the 17-year-old mark of 43.18 set by American sprinting legend Michael Johnson. The South African athlete left pre-race favourite LeShawn Merritt (who won bronze) of the USA and defending champion Kirani James (silver) of Grenada in his wake.

American legend Michael Johnson was present as a media commentator and looked shocked that his long-standing mark had been bettered. Wayde celebrated his 400m world record at the Rio Olympic Stadium in Rio alongside Usain Blot.

Usain Bolt cut short his TV interview with American TV broadcasters NBC to congratulate Wayde van Niekerk on his 400m world record run. A gesture that shows true sportsmanship and a great sense of friendship between two athletes.

Usain Bolt's unique Olympic Games 'triple triple' bid began with his blistering 100m final. Next up is the 200m. The fastest man on the planet and the current holder of the world records in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay is attempting to pull off an unsuspected 'triple triple' in Rio. 

By defending his titles in all of these events, Usain Blot will cement his name in the history books as the greatest sprinter the world has ever seen. Bolt completed the first part of the bid with his win in the 100m on Sunday, 14 August 2016.

He won in a time of 9.81 seconds and was followed by Justin Gatlin of the USA and Andre de Grasse of Canada who finished third. Bolt's 200m campaign began on Tuesday, 16 August 2016 when he cruised through his 200m heats and earned his spot in the semi-finals set to start today.

Bolt said he wants to break his world record in this event and dip under the 19 second mark. Can he do it? The answer will come tomorrow as the 200m final is set to take place at 10:30pm, Rio time. “I think that if I can get a good night's rest after the semi-finals, it is possible for me to do it. I’m going to have to leave it all on the track and do the best I possibly can,” said Bolt.

Four runners have gone quicker than Bolt over the 200m distance this season. Heading the list is Lashawn Merritt of the USA, who shocked the athletics community with an incredible 19.74 earlier this year at the US Olympic trials in Eugene on 8 July.

100m silver medallist Justin Gatlin of the USA clocked 19.75 last month. The closest Bolt has come to his 2009 record is the 19.32 four years ago when he won the gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Can he do it again? Everything will be revealed tomorrow morning!

Following the heroics of Wayde van Niekerk and Usain Bolt, David Rudisha of Kenya obliterated the men's 800m field as he took top spot in the event. Competing at his first Olympic Games, David ran a staggering time of 1:40:91 in the 800m final at London 2012 to supersede Wilson Kipketer's previous mark of 1:41:11.

This was the only athletics world record at the London Games and David successfully defended his title in Rio on Monday, 15 August 2016 at the Olympic Stadium in a time of 1:42:15. David had his eye on the final the whole time and he defended his gold medal successfully.

With the final names of Team SA for the Rio Olympics in August set to be announced soon, SA’s top athletes are chasing qualifying marks at local and international meets and events. Here are a few who have recently put their hands up for inclusion in the team. – BY SEAN FALCONER

No Cramping Irv’s Style

In spite of bitterly cold conditions that left her feet numb for the first 15km of the London Marathon in April, Irvette van Zyl was able to post a fast 2:32:20 to make her the fastest female marathoner inside the 2:45 Olympic qualifying criteria set by SASCOC and put her in pole position for selection for Rio. She also had to overcome the obstacle of being in the process of recovering from a stomach bug the week before, and then missed her personal drink at 25km, meaning she ran without any hydration from 20km to 30km and suffered cramping in both her stomach and legs, making the last 12km very hard. With the leg cramps I knew that if even stopped for any period of time, it would have been extremely hard to get going again, so I really had to hang in there. Let’s just say I was really pleased to get to the finish line,” she said.

Lebo Adds Her Name

Hot on the heels of Irvette van Zyl’s 2:32:20 in London came news that Lebo Phalula ran 2:33:48 in just her second marathon, at the Enschede Marathon in the Netherlands. Lebo’s time is not just a PB by just over five minutes, but is just five seconds slower than Christine Kalmer’s 2:33:43 (run in Valencia, Spain late last year), and thus puts her third on the list of fastest qualifiers and provisionally on the plane to Rio. “When the girls left me running alone at 16km, I just told myself I have to be strong and run my race with my own splits, which was easy. My first aim was to finish the race and all went according my plans,” she said.

Lynique Leaping for Joy

Having finally recovered from a long-term back injury, long jumper Lynique Prinsloo soared to a massive Olympic qualifier at the South African Student Championships in Limpopo at the end of April. Needing a 6.70m jump, she cleared that by a full 8cm, and said afterwards that moving to work with renowned long jump coach Emmarie Fouche at the University of Johannesburg has made the difference, on top of recovering from the three-year struggle with her back. “The wind played around with our first three jumps, on my fourth I got too much height, the fifth was a no-jump and then the last jump I came up with that 6.78. Sometimes an athlete can just feel it’s a good jump, and it felt like I was flying through the air for longer than usual.”

Dom Now in Elite Trio

Dominique Scott-Efurdbooked a provisional spot in Rio when she clocked a personal best 31:56.84 for 10,000m at the Payton Jordan Invitational meeting in California, taking 15 seconds off her previous best and finishing well under the Olympic qualifying mark of 32:15. Only two South African women, Elana Meyer and Colleen De Reuck, have ever gone faster, and Dominique is just the third to break 32 minutes. Should she get the nod to compete in Rio, she will be the first SA woman to run the Olympic 10,000m since Elana won the silver medal in Barcelona in 1992. “It’s been my dream ever since I can remember to compete in the Olympics in South Africa’s green and gold,” she said. “This was a dream even before I began racing on the track.”

Perfect Hurdle Execution

In the men’s 400m hurdles, Lindsay Hanekom looks to have realised his dream of booking a spot in Rio, thanks to clocking 49.03 at the ASA Open Championships in Bloemfontein in early May. His time is well inside the 49.40 qualifying time, and gives him a new personal best by 0.43 seconds. “I knew it was just a question of time before that time came! I was very, very focused ahead of my race and just went out trying to strive for perfect hurdle execution,” said Lindsay. “I was also very relaxed between my hurdles and maintained good rhythm. I’ve had a few injuries this year and didn’t have the best SA Championships, but I’ve risen above that and just came out to do my best.”

On Sunday, 29 May 2016, Caroline Wöstmann of KPMG Running Club will try and achieve something that no other female athlete has done before. She will attempt to win both the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon as well as the Comrades Marathon in two consecutive years.

Derek Preiss is the only athlete so far that was able to do so. He did so in 1974 and 1975. With her victory in last year’s Comrades, Wöstmann, who trains at the High Performance Centre (HPC),became only the fourth athlete ever to win the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon as well as the Comrades Marathonin the same year.

Frith van der Merwe did so in 1989 and Elena Nurgalieva from Russia in 2004 and 2012.

Lindsey Parry (head coach at Tuks/HPC) emphasized that making running history will not be what the Comrades will be about for Wöstmann on Sunday.

“Caroline’s only focus will be to stick to the race plan we agreed on. I think we have planned a good race. I know you can never expect to win a race but we are expecting to be competitive.  The good thing is that, as far as I am concerned, there is no pressure on Caroline. The fact that she has won the Two Oceans means that she has already achieved a great result for the year.”

What does it take to win Comrades?

“It is no secret. The fastest time on the day will win the race and we are aiming to run the fastest time. It is not impossible for Caroline to go under six hours but that is not our target.”

Parry expects that the women’s race might boil down to a battle between Wöstmann, Charné Bosman and Britain’s Ellie Greenwood. Last year Bosman, who also trains at the HPC, was second and Greenwood finished second in 2014.

“Quite a few other talented runners will also be competing. For example, Sweden’s Kajsa Berg who finished 2nd last September in the World 100km Championships in Winschoten, the Netherlands, but it is important to keep in mind that nobody just ‘rocks up’ at Comrades and wins. You first have to pay your dues.”

According to Parry, the unknown factors in the race will be Tanith Maxwell, a former Olympian marathon athlete, and Colleen de Reuck, a SA Olympian who now lives in the USA.  Although De Reuck is 52 already, Parry is confident that she will finish in the top ten.

Parry prefers not to make predictions about what might happen if Wöstmann and Bosman should be the two athletes to duel it out over the final kilometres.

“I coach both of them so I try not to play them off against each other. If Charné remembers to stick to her game plan it could be a very interesting race.”

Asked if he made drastic changes to the training programs of Wöstmann and Bosman since last year when they prepared for the ‘up-run’ (Durban to Pietermaritzburg), Parry said: “The fundamentals of running Comrades remain the same. In both the up and down runs the first 27 kilometres are the hardest part of the course.”

The Hollard JURA will have you crawling, climbing and running through urban and man-made obstacles you've never experienced before. It’s Go Time! Experience an adventure in your backyard at the Hollard Jozi Urban Run Adventure at Marks Park on Saturday, 28 May 2016. The Hollard JURA is a race that combines the best parts of trail running and obstacle courses to form a whole new urban running experience.

Here are our 5 top tips in conquering the Hollard JURA obstacles:

Show us your Spots

There’s nowhere to move but forward. For the leopard mesh crawl you’ll be making your way bum up and belly to the grass to get to the other side.

Hint: Keep your bum up so the net is above your face, that way you use your arms to move the net in front of you, easy-peasy!

Hanging Tough

Think ropes, and lots of them. You'll have to navigate your way across a rope jungle, using those guns to get you safely across and back to earth. Remember, the only wrong direction is down.

Hint: Build momentum then swing over and grab the next rope, this applies especially to those a little short in the arm department.

Wet and Wild

A addition to the Hollard JURA is the over 60m inflatable water slide. Glide your way down at speed while the water sprays around you. Time to cool down and letting catch your breath before the adventure continues. 

Hint: Lie flat on your back, hold your nose if you don’t want water up those nostrils and don’t forget to say “Weeeeeee!”

The Last Straw

With over 300 hay bales, the affectionately named “Hay Bale Hell is one of the highlights along the route. You’llrun and jump your way through, burying your hands in the straw and pulling yourself over, upwards and onwards.

Hint: Straw can scratch, so grab gently when you’re reaching for the next bale as you work your way over. Don’t forget to hoist and help each other out.

Over, Under, Through

From a series of obstacles to hop over and a variety of urban obstacles and storm water drains to crawl under and through. The Hollard JURA will have you going all O.U.T.

Hint:Going up? Hold the top, slide your foot to the side of the obstacle to get a good grip and then lift. Going under? Stop, drop and roll or try a squat and crawl.

Other obstacles you can look forward to: 3 crawling tunnels, grabbing some frequent climber miles up the Albert’s Farm rock climb, Tarzan style rope swings over Spruit ravines, wobbling your way across the balance walkers and winding your way down the 300m reed tunnel.

There’s fun for everyone, pick from three distance options: 6km, 12km and 18km. Each distance will feature a variety of inner-city obstacles, detours for those less adventurously inclined and routes that will give you the chance to climb, crawl and run through an epic urban jungle gym.

For those not lacing up and for all your family and friends, the Hollard Adventure Weekend Race Day Village at Marks Park will be alive with activity for the whole family.

Some fun to look forward to: A mini obstacle course for the adventurers in the making, an SAB beer garden and “Gig Rig”, Joburg’s top food stalls, an ABI family area, and much more. Follow all the latest news and announcements via social media by following us on Facebook.

There two weeks to go and a couple entries left so dust off those running shoes and enter! Entry fees are R249 for the 6km, R299 for the 12km and R330 for the 18km. Get your nearest sole mate and visit www.joziadventure.co.zafor entries and more information.