Gongqa grabs Two Oceans in grand style
THE WINNER of the 2017 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, Lungile Gongqa, may well run out of Cape Town and in the colours of Nedbank, Western Cape, but he is Eastern Capeborn and bred and was enticed into running here.
Gongqa hails from Engcobo and like three other past Two Oceans winners, he has his roots northeast of the Great Kei River.
Gongqa was not a prerace favourite but he has a reasonable race pedigree.
He is not as fast over the marathon distance as those he follows,Thompson Magawana, Zithulele Sinqe and Mluleki Nobanda, but his 2:11:59 is respectable and it resulted in him being selected for the Rio Olympics.
He beat some of Africa's finest ultra runners on this, only his second attempt, at the 56km Cape classic.
Gongqa last ran the race in 2012 and recorded an average 3:25:04 in finishing 29th.
Nobody sat up and took much notice. Well, not until this past Saturday.
Gongqa’s winning time of 3:09:43 compares favourably with the winning time of former South African marathon champion, Sinqe, in 1996 when he recorded 3:09:45.
Likewise, with the winning time of Nobanda at 3:09:21. Magawana set the course record way back in 1988 in 3:03:44, and no runner has even come close to that.
Gongqa often comes back to race in the Eastern Cape as he deems it worth his while.
Indeed, his fastest 10km race ever was on the hills of Mdantsane when he won the Real Gijimas race in 2013 with a time of 29:09.
He also won the 2015 Born 2 Run-organised Windmill Half-Marathon, and the 2014 Jumbo Beach 2 Beach, organised by the same club, when he beat Olympian Lusapho April by 22 seconds in a thrilling performance.
Should there have been any indicators picked up that a Two Oceans win was on the cards this year?
Not really, given that Gongqa ran a half-marathon in Cape Town in early February and recorded a time of 66:03 against a personal best time of 63:57 run last year in Port Elizabeth.
He had earlier, in midJanuary, run a 2:18:53 time in a marathon in Mumbai, India, finishing in a lowly 12th position.
The Two Oceans result will take away all the disappointments, including training camp controversies, dropping out of the Olympic Marathon and more.
Two Oceans 2017 was a fantastic result, a good payday for Gongqa and a performance to be cherished by all in the Eastern Cape.