HISTORY
Beverley Malan
TWO OCEANS REPEAT FEATS
The Totalsports Two Oceans Ultra Marathon has been run 54 times since 1970, and in that time the coveted title of Two Oceans Marathon champion has been claimed by 43 men and 29 women, but only a handful of them managed to win the Ultra more than once, let alone three, four or more times. – BY SEAN FALCONER
Monica Drögemöller
When Gerda Steyn took line honours in the 2022 Two Oceans Ultra Marathon, she not only claimed her third win in the iconic 56km race, but also made history by breaking Frith van der Merwe’ s 33-yearold women’ s race record, lowering the mark by nearly a minute from 3:30:36 to 3:29:42. A year later, Steyn once again took line honours and rewrote the history books once again. Firstly, she shattered her own course record by 36 seconds, lowering it to 3:29:06, and secondly, her fourth win equalled the record of Monica Drögemöller and Elena Nurgalieva for the most wins ever in the event history. Thirdly, Steyn became the only runner to win the Two Oceans Ultra four times consecutively, a feat that put her out ahead of the other four-time winners.
Still more was to come from Steyn. In 2024, she made it five consecutive wins, and lowered the women’ s race record to a brilliant 3:26:54, and in 2025 she recorded a sixth straight win, albeit not in a record time. This incredible record makes Steyn the most successful runner of all time in the history of the Two Oceans, and when you add her other feats in long-distance road running, it is obvious why many consider her the greatest female long distance road runner ever produced by South Africa
In 2019 she became the first woman to run the‘ Up’ Comrades between Durban and Pietermaritzburg in under six hours, as she claimed the first of four Comrades wins in the last five editions of that race, with two race records in the Up Run and one in the Down Run. In 2021 she broke the South African women’ s record for the standard marathon, clocking 2:25:28 in Italy, and subsequently lowered that record to 2:24:03 in 2023.( In 2024, Glenrose took that record with a 2:22:22).
Marie-Jeanne
Duyvejonck
However, it is Steyn’ s incredible six straight wins in the Two Oceans Marathon that put her head and shoulders above all other runners on the list of multiple winners in the long history of this remarkable race.
WOMEN’ S REPEAT CHAMPIONS
The women’ s race in the Two Oceans Marathon has seen 29 different winners in the 49 editions of the race since women were given official permission to run the race in 1975. Of those 29 winners, nine have managed to win the race more than once. The first repeat women’ s winner was Belgian national Marie-Jeanne Duyvejonck, who claimed the title in 1976 and 1977, while working in South Africa, and setting a new course record with her first win.
Gail Ingram’ s double in 1980 and 1981 included two course records, but her achievement was surpassed by Beverley Malan in the next four years. Malan not only broke the course record in both 1982 and 1983, becoming the first woman to break the four-hour barrier and earn a silver medal, but she also claimed another win in 1985 to become the first three-time women’ s winner of the Two Oceans Marathon, in the same year that Siphiwe Gqele became the first three-time men’ s winner.
The next multiple winner was Monica Drögemöller, who broke the course record in 1988. She could only watch as Frith van der Merwe’ s world class run in 1989 shattered her record, but she
24 Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon 2026 returned to set a new record of her own, by winning three in a row from 1990 to 1992 and becoming the first four-time winner. Another hat-trick was achieved when Angelina Sephooa of Lesotho won the women’ s race in 1997, 1998 and 1999, to become only the second woman to record three consecutive wins.
From 2002 till 2014, all 13 women’ s titles were won by international athletes, with Russians claiming all but two of these wins. In particular, the Nurgalieva twins dominated the race, with Elena Nurgalieva winning four times in 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2012, and Olesya Nurgalieva claiming line honours three times in 2008, 2010 and 2011. That run of foreign wins was finally broken by South Africa’ s Caroline Wöstmann, who won in 2015 and 2016 to add her name to the list of multiple winners.
The past six editions of the women’ s race have been dominated by Steyn, who won in 2018 and 2019, and then four more times from 2022 to 2025.( The race did not take place in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID pandemic.) With her 2022, 2023 and 2024 wins also bringing her three new course records, she now stands head and shoulders above the rest of the repeat winners.
WOMEN’ S MULTIPLE WINNERS 6 WINS
Gerda Steyn |
2018 |
3:39:31 |
|
2019 |
3:31:28 |
|
2022 |
3:29:42 * |
|
2023 |
3:29:06 * |
|
2024 |
3:26:54 ** |
|
2025 |
3:29:10 |
4 WINS
Monica Drögemöller |
1988 |
3:44:29 * |
|
1990 |
3:42:39 |
|
1991 |
3:50:23 |
|
1992 |
3:49:16 |
Elena Nurgalieva |
2004 |
3:37:51 |
|
2005 |
3:38:14 |
|
2009 |
3:40:43 |
|
2012 |
3:41:56 |
3 WINS
Beverley Malan |
1982 |
3:59:08 * |
|
1983 |
3:57:32 * |
|
1985 |
4:01:09 |
Angelina Sephooa |
1997 |
3:45:45 |
|
1998 |
3:49:56 |
|
1999 |
3:38:09 |
Olesya Nurgalieva |
2008 |
3:34:53 |
|
2010 |
3:41:53 |
|
2011 |
3:33:58 |
2 WINS
Marie-Jeanne Duyvejonck |
1976 |
5:01:07 * |
|
1977 |
5:03:52 |
Gail Ingram |
1980 |
4:14:05 * |
|
1981 |
4:11:31 * |
Caroline Wöstmann |
2015 |
3:41:24 |
|
2016 |
3:44:44 |
* Course Record | ** Current Course Record