ROAD RUNNING
The big story to come out of this year ’ s Totalsports Two Oceans Ultra Marathon was Gerda Steyn winning her third consecutive title , becoming the first woman to break the 3:30 barrier , and finally breaking Frith van der Merwe ’ s 33-year-old course record . However , what many don ’ t know is that she lined up not even sure if she would be able to race flat-out , although you ’ d never have guessed it judging by the way she finished the race ! – BY SEAN FALCONER
Pre-race pic , most unaware of her doubts after being sick a week earlier
As Gerda Steyn turned the last corner , just before hitting the grass of the finish straight on the University of Cape Town rugby fields , her face broke into a massive smile of sheer happiness . And boy did she have reason to smile ! Not only was she hitting the finish of the 2022 Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon first , after a titanic battle of more than 50 kilometres before finally breaking clear of the other women in the race , but she was coming home to record a third consecutive win in the race – just the third woman and fourth athlete ever to achieve that – and she knew she was on course to finally break Frith van der Merwe ’ s 33-year-old course record !
Even though there were officially no spectators at the UCT rugby fields , there were still enough people working at the race to line the finish straight and cheer Gerda home . With race commentators Sipho Mona and Altus Schreuder getting the small but vocal crowd going with a chant of “ Gerda , Gerda , Gerda ,” even the kitchen staff and waitrons working behind the scenes to provide catering in the VIP hospitality tent left their work stations to watch Gerda come flying home , pumping her fists in the air , smiling all the way and just enjoying the moment .
Gerda crossed the line in 3:29:42 , taking 54 seconds off Frith ’ s long-standing record of 3:30:36 , run back in 1989 . That year , Frith finished a phenomenal 22nd overall as she shattered Monica Drögemöller ’ s oneyear-old record of 3:44:29 , and along the way , she also posted World Best times for 30 miles ( 48.27km ) and 50km . Later that same year , she finished 15th overall in the Comrades Marathon , setting a new women ’ s record time for the Down Run of 5:54:43 , which still stands today .
A Remarkable Record
By breaking Frith ’ s record , Gerda qualified for the R250,000 incentive put up by title sponsor Totalsports for a new course record , thus nearly doubling her winnings on the day . What makes her new record even more special is that Frith had a somewhat easier finish in 1989 , when the last six kilometres of the original route that finished at Brookside were mostly downhill . The current course , in use since 1998 , is more challenging from 50km to the finish at UCT , especially the last two kilometres , but Gerda actually managed a split of 20:55 for the last 6km , running 62 seconds faster that Frith in 1989 !
The win also puts Gerda level with Monica and Angelina Sephooa as the only three women to win three consecutive Two Oceans titles – Siphiwe Gqele is the only man to have done so – and moves her up to joint second overall in terms of women ’ s wins . Monica and Elena Nurgalieva won the race four times each , while Angelina and Gerda are joined on three wins by Beverly Malan and Olesya Nurgalieva .
Behind Gerda , second place in the women ’ s race went to Irvette van Zyl , the current holder of the World Record over 50km in a women ’ s only race . She finished third in the last Two Oceans in 2019 , and went one better with a second place in 2022 after a gutsy run that saw her push hard for the win . Even though she was caught and passed by Gerda with just two kilometres to go , she still managed to come home in 3:30:31 , five seconds inside Frith ’ s old record , and at the post-race media conference , she shed a little tear when told that Totalsports had decided to award her an extra R50,000 incentive for also breaking the record .
My Biggest Win to Date
At that post-race media conference , Gerda admitted that it had been a very tactical race , and one of her hardest races to date . She described the bad patch she went through around the marathon mark as “ the darkest place I have ever been in during a race ,” and that taking the win and the record therefore meant so much more to her , making it her best win to date – even bigger than her 5:58:53 to win the 2019 Comrades and become the first woman ever to go sub-six hours for the Up Run . A few days after her win , she also made herself available for an interview at the offices of her apparel sponsor , adidas , and here ’ s what she had to say .
MA : Gerda , now that it ’ s been a few days since your big win , have you had time to process it all , and has the realisation of what you ’ ve achieved hit home ?
GS : I watched the whole race afterwards , from start to finish , and that was really special . As I watched , it brought back snippets of memories of what happened , what I had told my husband Duncan about the race , but then we saw the pictures and it became so much more clear . The first half of the race was so unexpected – I planned my race to perfection , by looking at the course , mapping out my splits and pacing , printing that and looking at it over and over in the weeks before the race – and the first half was bang on what I had planned , to the second … but the one thing I had not expected was still to be in a group of ladies , let alone a group of five . I thought that if there were others with me at halfway , they would be sitting on my tail , running to my plan , but instead they were surging , and running their own race .
MA : In that case , the two international runners , Amelework Bosho and Shelmith Muriuki , must have given you a bit of a fright when they surged into the lead on Chapman ’ s Peak ?
GS : They actually made two surges – the first one I went with them and Irvette fell back slightly , but then caught back up . Then came the second surge around , 24 or 25km and they just went . I thought to myself , this can ’ t be right , because they ’ re running faster than my marathon pace ! I don ’ t know if they planned it , but it just didn ’ t feel right for me to go with them ... but all I could think of was , will Duncan be annoyed that I didn ’ t go with them ? It has happened in the past that I regret not going with the elite pack , and even though I did catch up to them again in some of those races , I ended up running on my own a lot of the way .
So , I had told myself before this Two Oceans , just don ’ t lose contact . I was scared of making that mistake again , but it didn ’ t feel right to go then , so I took the gamble to wait and see , and as the race went on , we caught the leading women again and I knew it had been the right decision . However , when Irvette
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