TOTALSPORTS TWO OCEANS MARATHON MEDIA PACK 2024 | Page 34

Two Oceans Results Ultra Marathon :

2024 Debut

Half Marathon 3rd 2019 ( 63:37 ) 1st 2014 ( 64:16 ) 1st 2013 ( 63:36 ) 1st 2009 ( 63:42 )

Honours : Marathon 5th World Marathon Championships ,

Doha – 2015 10 000m 1st Africa Champion , Durban 2016 Half Marathon

Team Bronze World Half Marathon 2023

• 1st World University Championships , Kazan 2013

• 5th Africa Cross Country Championships , Cape Town 2011

• Olympic Games : 2012 ( Marathon ), 2016 ( 10,000m ) and 2021 ( Marathon )

• Represented South Africa at the World Track and Field Championships : 2011 , 2013 , 2015 , 2017 ( 10,000m ) and 2019 ( Marathon )

• Represented South Africa at the World Cross Country Championships : 2008 , 2009 , 2010 , 2011 , 2015

• Represented South Africa at the World Half Marathon Championships : 2008 , 2009 , 2012 , 2014 , 2016 , 2018 , 2020

Totalsports Two Oceans History Stephen Lesego Mokoka is no stranger to the World ’ s Most Beautiful Marathon as he has lined up at the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon on 4 occasions , but never in the Ultra Marathon . A three time winner over the Half Marathon and one third place means he knows what the last few kilometres of the Ultra will look like . It ’ s the previous 50-odd kilometres that will be strange to him .

On paper , he is the fastest marathoner in the field by a good three minutes . However , he is used to racing over fast and flat surfaces and has never raced beyond 50km . So while his pedigree is phenomenal , this is all new territory to Stephen .

Fact Sheet Lesego Stephen Mokoka will go down in history as one of South Africa ’ s best middle and long distance athletes . In a career spanning almost 20 years , he has won 26 National titles ,

Mokoka is an incredibly versatile athlete , with titles and good performances on the road , track and in cross country . His 15th place finish at the World Cross Country Championships in 2011 has only been equalled by the great Shadrack Hoff in Stellenbosch in 1996 .

Better known as a 5000m / 10 000m athlete until he made a concerted move to the roads , Mokoka stunned the South African middle distance fraternity by winning the 2010 men ’ s 1500m title to go with his second of eight 10 000m titles . His devastating kick left the best of the country ’ s 1500m athletes in his wake .

Once he made the transition to road running , Mokoka has been incomparable as his marathon and half marathon records show . An athlete who races sparingly , Mokoka has taken over the mantle of South Africa ’ s top road runner from Hendrick Ramaala and has become without doubt the statesman of South African road running .

National Titles ( 26 ) Of his 26 national titles , 8 are in the 10 000m and another 8 are the national half marathon title .

Half Marathon Mokoka is one of two South Africans to have broken 60 minutes in the half marathon on a legal ( non-aided ) course when he ran 59:51 in Buenos Aires in 2019 , before bettering that to 59:36 in 2020 . On six occasions he has represented South Africa at the World Half Marathon Championships , finishing in the top 10 on three occasions . 7th 59:36 , Gdynia ( POL ), 17 October , 2020 8th 1:02.06 , Kavarna ( BUL ) – 6 October , 2012 8th 1:01:36 , Birmingham ( GBR ) – 11 October . 2009 In 2023 he won his first ever World Championship medal when he anchored the South African Team to the Bronze Medal at the World Road Running Championships in Riga , Latvia .

Marathon His marathon debut came in 2010 when he finished 4th in the Seoul Marathon in 2:08.33 . Since then , in 20 starts , Mokoka has gone sub 2:10 on occasions , won the Shanghai Marathon on four occasions and the Cape Town Marathon three times . His marathon career reads as follows : 20 starts – 14 podiums . 7 victories

• Shanghai 2013 – 2:09.30

• Shanghai 2014 – 2:08.43

• Shanghai 2016 – 2:10.18

• Shanghai 2017 – 2:08.35

• Sanlam Cape Town Marathon 2018 – 2:08.32

• Sanlam Cape Town Marathon 2021 - 2:10.01

• Sanlam Cape Town Marathon 2022 - 2:09.59

LESEGO STEPHEN MOKOKA CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

TOTALSPORTS TWO OCEANS MARATHON MEDIA PACK 2024 Athlete Profiles by : Manfred Seidler

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