ROAD RUNNING

Racing on Home Soil …

“ Participating in the Cape Town Marathon last year was a wonderful experience , and it was amazing running in front of crowds again after such a long time without them . I finished fourth , after leading the race until the last six kilometres , so just missed a podium spot , but still managed the fastest time by a South African on home soil . I ’ ve competed in a few of the World Marathon Majors , namely the New York and London Marathons , but Africa is the breeding ground of elite athletes , which is why I ’ m so excited that the Cape Town Marathon is an official candidate race towards becoming Africa ’ s first World Marathon Major . It ’ s an amazing race , with such fantastic organisation !”

Impossible is Nothing …

“ Training and competing during COVID has been tough , as no-one was prepared for it . That ’ s something that athletes pride themselves on being – prepared for difficulties – yet no-one could anticipate the wide-reaching effects of COVID , both physically and mentally . I was able to focus on the Olympics , and I used the time to improve from 2020 to 2021 , so going through this experience has made me a stronger and more resilient athlete .”

“ For me , having an attitude of Impossible is Nothing is about putting significance on small achievements as much as on the bigger ones . For example , the other day , I was on a long run and at the halfway mark , I realised that just six years ago , I wasn ’ t even able to maintain this pace for a 5km race ! I felt extremely proud of the progress I ’ ve made .”

“ Having started later in my athletics career , I don ’ t put a limit on my ability , because I still feel like I ’ m on a learning curve , and there ’ s no ceiling holding me back . I don ’ t know when I ’ m going to stop improving , so I don ’ t think about it . My biggest motivation comes from looking back at where I started , recognising how far I ’ ve come , and knowing that I ’ ve still got room for improvement . It pushes me to compete to the best of my ability .”

Gerda is all smiles after signing with the adidas brand

This article is republished here courtesy of adidas . You can follow Gerda ’ s running journey on Instagram @ gerdarun and @ adidasZA , and if you ’ re interested to see which adidas gear she will be racing in , take a look at the latest adizero adios pro 2 .

To date , six South African female marathoners have run 21 sub-2:30 times between them , with Colleen De Reuck ( 7 ) and Elana Meyer ( 6 ) owning the majority of those times . However , with four sub-2:30 times posted from just 2019 to 2021 , Gerda Steyn is rapidly closing that gap . On 11 April 2021 , she ran 2:25:28 in the Xiamen Marathon & Tuscany Camp Global Elite Race , in Siena , Italy , to post the fastest time by a South African on a record-legal course , thus giving her the official South African women ’ s marathon record .

Elana Meyer did run faster when she clocked 2:25:15 in the Boston Marathon in 1994 , but the Boston course is point-to-point and has a large overall drop in altitude , and is thus considered a downhill course overall , in spite of featuring some very challenging climbs . For this reason , Colleen De Reuck ’ s 2:26:35 , run in Berlin in 1996 , stood as the SA Record for nearly 25 years . Gerda ’ s 2:26:25 in the 2021 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon also beat that long-time record , thus giving her the two fastest legal times on the all-time list , and three of the top four . Note : Non-legal times are denoted below with ( a ), which stands for aided .

TIME ATHLETE VENUE YEAR 1 2:25:15 ( a ) Elana Meyer Boston 1994 2 2:25:28 Gerda Steyn Siena 2021

Enjoying a run with the adidas Runners crew in Cape Town

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