Steyn eyes Oceans history
A hat-trick of victories and a course record. What more can Gerda Steyn want of the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon?
When you are as talented and driven an athlete as the lass from Bothaville in the Free State, there is always a higher bar to scale. Why else would Steyn be returning to the race at which she has achieved the ultimate?
“Last year’s race was a real highlight,” she reflects on her 3:29:42 run as we look ahead to Saturday’s 52nd running of the 56km Mother City ultra.
“Obtaining the course record that stood for a long time, I think over 30 years [she broke Frith van der Merwe’s 3:20:26 record from 1989], was very, very special. It was something I had been working hard towards and dreaming about for a long time, especially after 2019 when I missed it by under a minute.”
Why go back then? Isn’t it best to get out on a high?
“But I feel like there is still enough for me to come back for at the Two Oceans Marathon. I still want to come back and defend the title and obtain a new record of four wins in a row which has never happened,” Steyn explains.
The only other runners to have completed a hat-trick of victories are Monica Drogemuller (1990-1992) and Angelina Sephooa (1997-1999).
Victory on Saturday will send Steyn into the stratosphere, yet even after that don’t bet on the running starlet who also holds the national marathon and the Comrades up-run records will not stop running Two Oceans.
“I love the race. It is one of the most amazing races in the world and I can’t see myself not being a part of it even though I’ve already achieved the record.”
Steyn believes she has prepared well for the race and can’t wait to toe the start line: “I am feeling very ready and excited for this year’s race. Training has gone really well and I spent the final training block in Johannesburg running the hills at altitude which was ideal for my preparations.”
Prepared as she is, Steyn knows it won’t be all about just pitching up and sauntering to victory — not even with the absence of her good friend Irvette van Zyl who ran her close last year as both of them dipped below Van der Merwe’s longstanding record.
“Irvette won’t be here because she is injured, but the ladies who finished in third and fourth are back and there will be more ladies from Kenya and Ethiopia whom I am a 100% convinced will give me a good run for my money.”
While her focus is on the Two Oceans, Steyn has also her sights set on the Comrades Marathon, which she missed last year. She has always spoken of her desire to add the down run record to her collection, and will no doubt be out to do that on June 11. “My plan is to race both Two Oceans and the Comrades,” Steyn said explaining that she does not subscribe to the generally held notion that you cannot really race the two in one year and be successful.
“I am not going to Cape Town for a training run for Comrades, like some people often think elites do. We have eight weeks in between to recover for the Comrades. So with great attention to detail in your training, it is possible to race both and I am excited that I will be racing both this year.”