ROAD RUNNING

SMacPix , Daniel Morris , Ilma Stockton & courtesy Cian Oldknow , Seville Marathon , Durban International Marathon , Hollywood Bets Durban 10K , World Athletics

In January she ran the Johnson Crane Marathon in Johannesburg , as a training run , but won it comfortably with a 2:39 time . Then in February , she made her real marathon debut with a scintillating 2:25:08 in Seville , Spain , rocketing straight into second place on the all-time list of fastest South African women in the marathon , behind SA Recordholder Gerda Steyn ( 2:24:03 ). She followed that by winning the SA Marathon Champs title at the Durban International Marathon in April with a time of 2:29:46 , but an unfortunate incident on the finish line put a temporary dent in her running year . Fortunately , she bounced back from that brilliantly to run an impressive 2:30:29 on the tough , hilly Olympic Marathon course in Paris in August , finishing 32nd overall and first amongst the three South African women in the race ( her teammates were Steyn and Irvette van Zyl ).

Just as this edition of Modern Athlete was about to go live , she claimed the SA Cross Country Champs 10km title , and now she has her sights set on the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in October … and there is talk in athletics circles that Steyn ’ s SA Record is within her reach . With all this excitement surrounding her , we thought our readers would enjoy a Q & A catch-up with the woman they call Miss PB .

SF : Hi Cian , great to see you again , and huge congrats on what has been a phenomenal year ! So , I ’ m going to kick off with an easy question for you : How are you feeling at the moment ? I would

Team SA in the Olympic women ’ s marathon , Gerda Steyn , Cian Oldknow and Irvette van Zyl

imagine there must be a mix of pride , satisfaction , excitement and tiredness ...

CO : Yeah , I ’ m feeling really good . I had a slight post- Olympics dip , after all the highs , but I ’ m actually in a really good space at the moment , not feeling too tired . I ’ m fully back into training and enjoying it , and just excited about what we ’ ve done this year , where we ’ re at , and what we still want to do .

SF : Did you take a bit of time off after Paris ? CO : Not much , maybe two or three days , but I already jogged the morning after the marathon , then had a day off because of the flying and everything , and after that I slowly got back into some easy running . Because of my fall in April , I already had five weeks off of running , so we used that as my off time this year .

SF : We ’ ll come back to that unfortunate fall later , for now I want to stay on Paris . How did you actually feel after the marathon ? Were the legs tired or sore ?

CO : They were very tired ! I was supposed to do a 30-minute shuffle the next day , but it was only a 20-minute shuffle , and I was so looking forward to it ending . But I think it was good to do it before the flight . Those hills in Paris definitely gave my legs a little bit of a knock , and I was really tired . I would recommend anybody flying out straight after such a hard marathon , especially with the layover and then a second flight , but by the Wednesday , I did another run and it was okay . I had to take naps every day , though , because I was really tired , but otherwise my body seemed to come back quite quickly .

SF : How did your recovery after Paris Olympic marathon compare to after the Seville Marathon earlier this year , and your other long training runs of similar distances ?

CO : Seville was my first big marathon , and I knew I had to get the Olympic qualifying time , so it was quite a big race for me , but I got back into training fairly quickly afterwards , because I felt good . After Durban ,

Cian in action at the Paris 2024 Olympic Marathon

things were very different . I was concussed after that race , and then I had a tear in my ab , but I think that was just an anomaly . After Paris , I followed a similar routine to Seville , and I ’ m feeling really motivated by where I ’ m at , because due to the time I was off after my injury , I was actually a few weeks behind where I would have liked to have been going into the Olympics . I think that if I could do what I did in Paris off what I had done leading up to it , then there ’ s a lot more to still come . I ’ m motivated and posting good times in training , and that ’ s exciting me .

SF : Now , this was your first Olympics , being in the Olympic Village surrounded by all these world-class , famous athletes . What was the experience like ?

CO : It was surreal , because the Olympics has been something I ’ ve dreamt of since I was a kid . It ’ s on a pedestal , and there was a lot of expectation my side that it to be amazing . One of my most amazing experiences happened the Friday night before the men ’ s marathon . I was busy dishing up my potato and chicken and I turned to see Eliud Kipchoge next to me , dishing up the same food . Oh , my word , I thought , but shame , I can ’ t ask this guy for a selfie now , he ’ s racing tomorrow ! As he was about to walk away , I thought , Cian , you have to say something , so I went to tap him on the shoulder and said “ Good luck for tomorrow .” He just turned and smiled .

That made me realise that even though I was surrounded by great athletes , we were all there at the Olympics , chasing our dreams , and I just kept reminding myself that I belong there , too . I ’ m not as fast as some of the other athletes , and I don ’ t have the same status or pedigree as them , but it ’ s a stepping stone , and I ’ m hoping that I ’ m on my way to something bigger .

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