Mother City Magic
The eyes of the world will be on the Mother City on Sunday 17 October as the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon gets underway . Not only will SA ’ s top athletes line up , but some of the biggest names in marathon running will be looking for a big title and a big pay day . BY MANFRED SEIDLER
TWO OF SOUTH AFRICA ’ S favourite athletes , Stephen Mokoka and Gerda Steyn , will grace the start line in Fritz Sonnenberg Road , along with top names from Kenya and Ethiopia . Runners will set off from 6am , in batches of 300 to ensure all Covid-19 protocols are observed .
He returned with a 7th place , his second sub-60min half marathon , and broke his own SA record in the process , adding to the 10km SA record he has owned since 2015 ( 27:38 , Manchester ). Mokoka crossed the line in 59:36 in Gydnia , Poland at those World Championships .
Mokoka on a Mission
2018 champion and course record holder , Stephen Mokoka will be looking to make it two wins from two starts . Mokoka crossed the line in 2:08.31 in 2018 to eclipse the previous record of two-time winner , Asefa Mengistu ( 2:08.41 ) of Ethiopia . Since then Mokoka has racked up impressive additions to his already stellar CV . In August of 2019 he lowered the SA half marathon record to 59.51 in Buenos Aires . Six weeks later , Mokoka finished 5th at the World Athletics Championships Marathon in Doha , the best-ever marathon result for South Africa at a World Championships . But Mokoka was not done yet . In March 2020 , he returned to the Lake Biwa Marathon and clocked his third-best marathon time of 2:08.05 for 2nd place . In a strange twist of fate , that time is the exact time of the fastest-ever marathon run on South African soil – and run by none other than the late , great Zithulele Sinqe , father to Mokoka ’ s wife , Zintle .
Mokoka was able to head off to the World Half Marathon Championships last October to represent South Africa .
His heart set on the Tokyo Olympics , Mokoka sadly had to pull off the road in Sapporo shortly after the halfway mark , clutching his stomach in agony . When he went through the halfway mark , he was looking exceptionally good , leading the field in typical fashion with a glance over his shoulder . But the horrific heat and humidity that took some of the biggest names in world marathoning as scalps , also claimed Mokoka as a victim . For Mokoka , the return to the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon will now have extra significance . Not only does he want to win the only WA Gold Label race in Africa for the second time , he will also be hungry for ‘ redemption ’. A win in Cape Town will go a long way to putting the ghosts of Tokyo to bed .
Foreign Competition
Mokoka has his work cut out for him against Kenya ’ s Samwel Maswai and Daniel Muteti , and Ethiopia ’ s Ameta Belachew .
The Ethiopian is a marathon specialist having lined up in 27 . And while having only stood on the winner ’ s rostrum on two , in only three has he been outside the top 10 . He was 2nd on six occasions
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