ROAD RUNNING
After missing half the year due to injury and struggling with motivation , Irvette van Zyl hit the ground running in the latter half of 2023 , seemingly going from strength to strength as she found her racing form again , culminating in a number of high profile 10km wins and then her fourth win at the African Bank Soweto Marathon . Unsurprisingly , she now has her sights set on doing even better in 2024 , including some unfinished business with a few big races . – BY MANFRED SEIDLER ad to tion
Her confidence was back . That much was clear when Irvette van Zyl attended the pre-race press conference for the 2023 African Bank Soweto Marathon on 5 November . “ I want to win , that ’ s the goal . A podium is non-negotiable , but a win is the goal ,” she said , and two days later , that ’ s what she delivered , crossing the line in 2:34:16 to take her fourth Soweto title . It was some 30 seconds off her own course record , but that didn ’ t matter to her . It was all about the win !
“ It was tough , but Soweto is always tough , and I know it was my experience of the route that made the difference ,” says Irvette , who took control of the race at the top of Vilakazi Street ( 27km ), after running with a group of East African athletes up to that point . “ I know that after Vilakazi Street there is quite a downhill , and it is easy to speed up then , but there is a long climb to the finish , so if you go too hard on that downhill it will come back to bite you .”
Therefore , even as she steadily stretched her lead , Irvette ran within herself on that downhill , and when the long climb back up to the FNB Stadium began , she was still feeling strong . That allowed her to power home for the win , and she broke the tape nearly two minutes ahead of second-placed Ethiopian Selam Fente Gebre ( 2:36:04 ). Having also won the race three consecutive times from 2017 to 2019 , Irvette is now lying joint second on the all-time Soweto list of winners , tied on four wins with Sarah Mahlangu , with just Mamarolla Tjoka ahead of them on six wins . Irvette now holds the top three fastest women ’ s times ever run on the Soweto course : 2:33:46 ( 2018 ), 2:34:01 ( 2019 ) and this year ’ s 2:34:16 .
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