36th Two Oceans Marathon

(2005-03-28)

The Cape weather was kind as this Easter weekend saw the running of the 36th Two Oceans Marathon. The 56km race is one of South Africa’s two famous ultra-marathons (along with the Comrades) and considered to be the most visually spectacular ultra-marathon in the world.

Between the marathon and the half marathon (21.1km), there were around 15,000 runners on Saturday. The winner of the ultra – and the R150,000 prize money – was Zimbabwean Marco Mambo, coming in after 3 hours, 5 minutes and 39 seconds. Mambo, a miner who gets up at 3am every morning to train before work, runs for Harmony Athletics Club, the team that produced seven out of the top ten finishers. He is the first runner to successfully defend his title since 1997, and only the seventh ever to do so, since he also won last year’s return to the beautiful Chapman’s Peak route (it had been closed for repairs for three years).

The first three women in were all Russians; the twins Elena and Olesya Nurgalieva followed by Marina Bychkova. The first South African woman was Gladys Lukhwareni, another Harmony Athletics Club runner, in fourth place.

The winner of the half marathon was Hendrik Ramaala, South Africa’s winner of last year’s New York Marathon, in a time of 63:29. The first woman in was Mamarola Tjoka. Both runners train with the Mr Price team.

The Two Oceans Marathon has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1970, when it was started by Dave Venter, who had been transferred from Durban to Cape Town and missed the vibrant running scene in Natal. The race was originally meant to be a training run for the Comrades, and it attracted 26 runners, only 15 of whom managed to finish within the 6 hour cut off. The first race was won by Dirkie Steyn, who competed barefoot, in a time of 3:55:50.

Over the years the start and finish points have changed slightly, but the route and length have essentially remained the same. Today the start is in Newlands Main Road and the finish is on the sports fields of the University of Cape Town. Having been run on the Easter weekend since 1973, the date of the race is quite different every year, often resulting in wildly different weather conditions. This weekend’s race was blessed with partly cloudy skies and not too much wind, although 11 runners were nevertheless admitted to hospital, suffering from dehydration.