Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 118, May 2019 | Page 9

ROAD RUNNING
Tougher Revised Route
Just two days before the race, news broke of a threat of disruptive political protest action in Hout Bay,
where acts of violence and damage to property had been widespread in the preceding weeks, and thus
posed possible danger to participants taking part in the ultra-marathon. This saw the Two Oceans Marathon
organisers meet with the police, traffic department, emergency services, Cape Town Metro council and
Western Cape government, and the difficult but prudent decision was taken to change the route to run over
Ou Kaapse Weg instead of going over Chapman’s Peak, through Hout Bay and up Constantia Nek.
The ‘Detour Route’ over Ou Kaapse Weg had been used by the race four times previously, from 2000 to
2003 and then again in 2015, when Chapman’s Peak Drive was closed for repair following wildfires. The
fires denuded the slopes above the road of stabilising vegetation, leading to dangerous landslides and rock
falls, especially when it rained. The new route, while cutting out the two big climbs from the traditional route,
still featured two big climbs of its own, Ou Kaapse Weg and Southern Cross Drive, with the latter taking
runners back onto the normal route on Rhodes Drive.
Many consider the ‘Detour Route’ harder than the normal route, because whereas Chapman’s Peak crests
at 180m above sea level, Ou Kaapse Weg crests at 312m, so it is a much longer, steeper climb, and the
descent on the other side is much shorter and far more brutal on the legs than coming down into Hout Bay.
Southern Cross peaks at 200m, whereas Constantia Nek climbs to 215m, so they are roughly similar, and it
is therefore Ou Kaapse Weg that makes the big difference on the revised route, as many runners found out
once again in 2019.
The start of the long Ou Kaapse Weg climb
Kaapse weg, he was on target for a 3:02 winning
time, which would have taken some 90 seconds off
the course record. However, the descent down the
other side of Ou Kaapse Weg is incredibly steep,
and more than one runner paid the price for going
down too hard. First Kiprotich slowed to a jog
by 44km, and eventually withdrew at 50km, and
then Ethiopian Sintayehu Yinesu paid the price for
chasing Kiprotoch, as did defending champion Justin
Cheshire of Kenya.
That saw three-time Comrades champion, Bongmusa
Mthembu, take the lead, and he cruised home
in 3:08:39. He was followed home by Comrades
Marathon course record holder David Gatebe, who
has also won both races in the past, and who looked
really strong as he crossed the line in 3:10:29. Both
these men are serious contenders for the Comrades
crown on 9 June, just six weeks after the running of
the Two Oceans, but no male athlete has been able
to do the double of winning both the Two Oceans
and Comrades in the same year since
Derek Preiss way back in 1974 and 1975.
Live Broadcast Rescue
Act
Besides the enforced
route change, the oth
er big change at this yea
not being televised live
r’s Two Oceans Marath
by the South African Bro
on was the event
adcasting Association
This was due to the fac
(SABC) for the first tim
t that Athletics South
e since 1987.
Afri
ca
(AS
A) and the SABC were
agreement on a new con
unable at the time to rea
tract for the broadcast
ch
rights to all athletics eve
nts in the country.
According to its constitu
tion, ASA holds the sole
rights to sell these bro
held for the past three
adcast rights, which the
years, but due to financia
SABC had
l challenges, was una
Fortunately, a late solu
ble to renegotiate its dea
tion was found, allowin
l with ASA.
g the event to be broadc
You can read the full sto
ast via livestreaming on
ry in Manfred Seidler’s
the Internet.
column on page 16.
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