Caroline brings women’s crown home at last
| Lesotho’s Nkhabutlane, who finished second in 2011, takes men’s Two Oceans but . . .
IN REAL life Cinderella goes by the name Caroline Wostmann.
The senior lecturer at Wits University yesterday glided past her more fancied stepping sisters to bring the Two Oceans women’s 56km crown back to South Africa after 14 years.
The men’s ultra-marathon title, however, stayed in foreign hands for the ninth time in 12 years. Motlokoa Nkhabutlane of Lesotho shook off his challengers with 10km remaining to win by more than two minutes in 3:10.27 seconds.
Women’s defending champion, Nina Podnebesnova of Rus- sia, seemed on track to keep her tiara until Wostmann burst through from beyond the top 10 to snatch a victory even she didn’t expect.
To say Wostmann raised the eyebrows of road-running aficionados is an understatement — she blew them off with even more ferocity than the Cape Doctor could muster yesterday.
Boasting a marathon personal best of 2:44.57, she wasn’t supposed to get the better of Podnebesnova (2:31.37) or even experienced compatriot Tanith Maxwell (3:32.33).
Heck, her best on a standard 50km course was 3:41.44, but yesterday she went even faster, clocking 3:41.23.
Her coach Lindsey Parry had told her to aim for 3:50. “I said: ‘no, 3:50 is too hard’.
“I don’t know how it happened,” added Wostmann, a chartered accountant who lectures management accounting and finance.
“People were telling me I was 12th on Ou Kaapseweg. I’m training for Comrades and I felt good up the hill, so I overtook some girls up the hill and then some more going down.
“I went from 12th to fifth and then fourth and then third, and then I thought I might make the podium, but I started doubting myself.”
Only when she passed Podnebesnova with 5km to go did she decide she wanted the victory.
“I told myself ‘there’s no way, even if I die, that I will hold this,’ ” said the 32-year-old, who smiled like a beauty queen despite stepping on the gas.
“For 3km after that, I put the accelerator down. But with 2km to go I did feel a little tired.”
Wostmann, in her first Comrades Marathon in 2009, finished 205th. But after finishing sixth last year she decided to get a structured training programme, and that’s when she hooked up with Parry, based at the University of Pretoria’s high performance centre.
“Since she joined me in August, she has been going faster and faster,” said Parry.
Wostmann said almost everything she had run since then was a personal best, but now her goal was Comrades.
“All this training was for Comrades. They say that a good Two Oceans blows your Comrades, but I guess I’ll find out in training this week,” said Wostmann, the first South African woman winner since 2001.
That was Gwen van Lingen, a South African legend who was victorious on the same route over Ou Kaapseweg.
The men’s and women’s 56km records were never under threat yesterday; the safest cash in the country were the two R1-million bonuses earmarked for the culling of the men’s and women’s records.
Firstly, the route was tougher than the traditional Chapman’s Peak-Constantia Nek trek, the change forced by the recent devastating fires.
And then the Black Southeaster bared its teeth, even sprinkling the field with some
GREAT RUN: Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie congratulates Collen Makaza after he finished second in the Two Oceans yesterday WHAT A RACE: Lesotho's Motlokoa Nkhabutlane won the men’s ultra-marathon event by more than two minutes, in 3:10.27 seconds uncharacteristic rain.
“I was going for the record,” admitted Podnebesnova. “I started a little too fast and after 15km I felt it. The weather was also a killer. The wind was too strong and the rain was a problem. But maybe next year.”
The Nurgalieva twins, who have won here seven times before, skipped this year, appar- ently focusing on the Comrades where they will meet new sensation Wostmann.
Maxwell, who competed at the 2012 Olympic Games, was running her debut ultra marathon, but faded in the final 10km.
“The wheels fell off a little bit. I suppose I prefer the marathon,” she said. WELCOME SURPRISE: South Africa's Caroline Wostmann celebrates as she crosses the finish line in 3:41.23
I told myself ‘there’s no way, even if I die, that I will hold this’
Nkhabutlane’s time, although well behind the 3:03.44 record, was a good effort on this route; when Ou Kaapseweg was used from 2000 to 2003, the two best times were 3:09.21 and 3:09.42.
Collen Makaza of Zimbabwe was second in 3:12.41 and Moeketsi Mosuhli, also of Lesotho, third in 3:13.44.
The first South African home, in fourth place, was Cape Town homeboy Mthandazo Qhina.
Maseru-based Nkhabutlane, second here in 2011, said the keys to victory were his solid six-month training programme, and working with his teammates in the race.
“We are training as partners, as teammates. In the race we can talk — and we talked,” he said. “That’s why we managed positions one and three.”
Lesotho offers good high altitude training, but Nkhabutlane said they didn’t use these. “At altitude you don’t push, you don’t have the speed,” he explained.
Stephen Mokoka and Lebogang Phalula won the men’s and women’s half-marathons.