Cape Town - Defending champion Stephen Mokoka once again showed why he is South Africa’s premier marathoner as he claimed a third win in the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon on Sunday.
The marathon was the main event in a jam-packed weekend of running action, attracting over 12 000 entries.
Saturday also saw runners compete in the 46km Sanlam Cape Town Trail Marathon and 22km Trail Run, as well as the 5km and 10km Sanlam Cape Town Peace Runs.
Olympian and multiple SA champion, Mokoka broke the tape in 2:09:58, three seconds faster than his winning 2:10:01 last year, and the fourth-fastest winning time in the race’s history.
Second place went to Ethiopian Derseh Kindie Kassie in 2:11:26, with his countryman Dagnachew Adere Maru outsprinting Kenya’s Raymond Kipchumba Choge to take third place, 2:11:52 to 2:11:55.
In the elite race, the leading men ran conservatively in the first half of the race, passing halfway in 1:05:36, with Mokoka biding his time near the front of the lead pack until the 32km mark.
He then made his move and steadily increased his lead over the last 10km – he was 21 seconds clear of second-placed Kassie at 35km, and just over a minute clear at 40km.
“This was a tough, tough course. Normally at 25km you start enjoying a marathon, but at 28km today, we climbed that hill in District Six and it got really hard for a while, but overall I really enjoyed the race,” Mokoka said.
In the women’s race, Meseret Dinke Meleka of Ethiopia took line honours in 2:24:02, smashing the 2:25:44 record run in 2021 by Lydia Simiyu, and also breaking her personal best (PB) of 2:25:12.
Second over the line was Kenyan Tecla Kirongo in 2:27:56 - also setting a new PB - with another Kenyan, Judith Cherono, taking third in 2:30:32. The first South African to finish was Stella Marais, clocking 2:38:34 to claim eighth position.
A leading pack of eight runners dominated the first half of the women’s elite race, with six Ethiopians and two Kenyans out front, led by Meleka.
She used her pace and strength to constantly throw in little surges to break other runners.
By the time the group reached halfway, in 1:12:11, it had been whittled down to five runners, and then Meleka blew the race wide open as she surged clear.
By 30km, she was more than two minutes ahead of the next runner, extending the gap to three-and-a-half minutes by 40km. Her winning margin was eventually three minutes 54 seconds.
“I enjoyed the race thoroughly, but unfortunately I had to do it by myself. When you run by yourself it is so difficult to control your pacing, but I managed.
“Of course, I am incredibly happy that I ran a personal best, and even more happy about the R100,000 bonus for a new record!” said Meleka.
“The course was a little tougher than other international races, but I was running within myself, and felt confident that I could keep a consistent pace till the end.”
The event for the first time featured an elite wheelchair race, with the athletes setting off 15 minutes before the elite field and adding great excitement to the spirit of the day.
The men’s race was dominated by American Aaron Pike. After initially breaking away from the rest of the pack with South Africa’s Ernst van Dyk, Pike pulled clear to win in 1:40:15, just under four minutes clear of his great friend and rival, who came home in 1:44:02.
Third place went to Mexico’s Martin Velasco Soria in 1:46:43. The women’s wheelchair race came down to a thrilling sprint finish, with Brazil’s Vanessa Cristina De Souza having to dig deep to win in 1:57:48, just one second ahead of Noemi Alphonse of Mauritius (1:57:49). Third place was claimed by British veteran Shelly Woods in 1:46:43
“I wasn’t expecting this to be so tough – it’s right up there with the New York Marathon – but it’s got technical sections, climbs, downs, fast flats, a bit of everything.
“But that climb was a bear! That was the steepest climb in all the Majors.
“It wasn’t long, but it was brutal, and I had to rest my arms after that,” Pike said.
Cape Times