Cape Town – It was fifth-time perfect for Motlokoa Nkhabutlane of Lesotho when he won the Two Oceans 56km ultra marathon in a time of 3hr 10min 27sec on Saturday.
Zimbabwe’s Collen Makaza finished second in 3:12:41, while Nkhabutlane’s compatriot Moeketsi Mosuhli was third in 3:13:44.
Nkhabutlane, who came second in 2011, did not finish in 2012, was fifth in 2013 and 49th last year, was delighted with his first Two Oceans win.
“I trained for six months for this race, working on my speed and I’m happy to have won it.
“I couldn’t have done it without my Lesotho teammates... we train together and during a race we work well, talking to one another to see which one is stronger, which one is struggling to encourage each other.”
Although Nkhabutlane surged ahead from the pack, he had his fears.
“I was still scared that there were some guys behind me, but after 46km, I decided to just go on and not to think about anyone else.”
The Maseru native said he will be spending his prize money of R25 000 on his wife and child.
Makaza, competing in his seventh Two Oceans, beat his previous best finish of third place achieved in 2012.
“I was happy with my performance because I was training for six months for this race and it truly was a year of comebacks.
“Nkhabutlane was too fast and strong I couldn’t keep up after he ran away from the pack, I couldn’t catch up,” said Makaza.
So what’s next for the Zimbabwean?
“I will not do the Comrades as I’m too young,” which made the entire press conference burst into laughter. “I will run it when I’m 40 so I have seven years to go and will be running in the Legends marathon in East London in October.”
In the women’s category, the home crowd had plenty to cheer about with South Africa occupying first and third spot.
Caroline Wöstmann could not believe her luck when she overtook defending champion Nina Podnebsnova of Russia after three-and-half hours, to become the first SA woman to win the race in 14 years in 3:41:23.
“When I started the race, I was happy to finish 9th or 10th and get a gold medal. When I was in 12th/13th position on Ou Kaapse Weg, I passed four girls and was thrilled and shocked to be leading such a great race. When I went into fourth, I started to doubt myself like when will I crash, but I held on to win.”
Not even the rain could spoil Wöstrom’s day with her constant beaming smile and infectious enthusiasm.
Wöstrom, an accounting lecturer at Wits University, accredited her maiden win to lots of field training in preparation for the Comrades Marathon and the acquisition of coach Lindsey Parry, the head sports scientist at the University of Pretoria Institute for Sports Research at the High Performance Centre.
“I used to train by myself but I’ve been with Lindsay since September and our training has made a huge difference.
“In December, I cut nine minutes off my time to finish a marathon in 2:44, I reached my 10km personal best (PB) in February and have reached a PB in every distance so far.”
Next up for Pretoria-based Wöstrom is the Comrades but her victory has given her confidence to try new challenges.
“I definitely want to try a 10km race at sea level and want to see if I can get 35 minutes.”
Podnebsnova, who finished in 3:44:04, could not hide her disappointment as she was gunning to break the record and nab the R1million up for grabs.
“The rain was a problem and affected my race but I definitely started too fast and that was my downfall.”
SA Olympian Tanith Maxwell could not have asked for a better debut, finishing third in 3:45:18.
“I’m happy to have done so well in my first ultra marathon but I prefer marathon distances because I really suffered on Southern Cross.
“But my training went according to plan and I was happy with my pace from start to finish.”