Johannesburg – South Africans Irvette van Zyl and Thobani Chagwe held off the foreign onslaught on Sunday to win the men’s and women’s titles at the Mandela Day Marathon in Pietermaritzburg.
Van Zyl, who had set a new course record of 33:32 at the Spar Women’s Challenge 10km race in Centurion on Saturday, secured another comfortable victory as she covered the challenging 42km course in 2:47:15.
She had said before the race she was using the event as a training run for next month’s Cape Town Marathon, where she will aim to become the fifth South African woman to break the 2:30:00 barrier.
“The goal was to run 2:56:00 (in Pietermaritzburg) and I managed to run nearly 10 minutes faster than that, so I’m really blessed today and I can’t believe it,” Van Zyl said.
One of four South African women to finish among the top 10, Van Zyl’s performance was nearly 19 minutes faster than the previous course record, with the next five women across the line also going under the old mark.
She started slowly but stormed through in the second half, taking the lead in the latter stages of the race.
“Nick Bester, my (Nedbank Running Club) team manager, told me not to start too hard because there are a lot of hills, so it was just about maintaining a comfortable pace and then work from halfway,” Van Zyl said.
“I knew it was going to be an easier second half.”
Compatriot Chagwe also broke the men’s race record, clocking 2:27:12 to better Zimbabwean Brighton Chipere’s two-year-old mark by 80 seconds, with Othaniel Phahlane taking second place in 2:28:39 as the duo dragged six SA men into the top 10.
Kenyan Emmanuel Birgen secured the last podium spot in 2:29:21. Gladwin Mzazi won the men’s half-marathon in 1:04:42, edging fellow South African Joel Mohau by three seconds in a sprint finish, with both runners forced to weave between the backmarkers of the 10km field in the closing stages.
Karen Chepkwemoi of Uganda secured victory in the women’s 21km race in 1:16:33, and Durban-based mother of three Jenna Challenor was second in 1:17:25.
In the men’s 10km event, Stephen Mokoka won in 30:38, while Lebogang Phalula, who was third in Centurion on Saturday, won the women’s race by nearly three minutes in 33:47. – Sapa