Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Will it be more smooth sailing for Calitz and Greyling at Two Oceans?
AJ CALITZ and Landie Greyling, fresh from impressive victories at last week’s three-day AfricanX Trailrun, will look to repeat their success at next week’s Two Oceans 22km Trail Run.
With many of the country’s leading trail athletes competing in today’s national trail marathon championships at Oliviershoek in the Northern Drakensberg, the South African calendar has provided a feast of quality trail racing.
Kane Reilly, Johardt van Heerden, Iain Don Wauchope, Nicolette Griffioen and Megan Mackenzie have opted to focus on the championships, but a strong lineup with an international flavour will ensure top racing on the slopes of Devil’s Peak next Friday, with athletes from 28 countries lining up for the short ( 10km) and long (22km) Two Oceans races.
Calitz was at the top of his game in last week’s 94km AfricanX Trailrun. Partnered by the consistent Ben Brimble, the pair took control on the second day over the testing 34km leg, opening an eight-minute gap on their opposition within the space of 10km.
Such was their dominance that Calitz and Brimble were able to run within themselves on the final day to ensure vic- tory, ensuring full recovery for the Two Oceans.
Melkbosstrand-based Calitz faces one of the strongest fields in the seven-year history of the race. While 2014 and 2015 champion Thabang Madiba is still recovering from a cycling accident earlier this year, Comrades gold medallist and former Cape Town Ultra Trail 100km champion Eric Ngubane will be looking to better his runners-up berth last year.
Pipped at the post by Madiba in 2015, Ngubane will be looking to draw on all his racing acumen to come out on top this time around.
Calitz and Ngubane represented South Africa at the World Ultra-distance championships in France last year over 86km. Calitz was the first South African home on that occasion, and he and Ngubane are favoured to finish on the podium next week.
But victory is by no means certain for them, with 22km arguably well short of optimal for the two ultra-distance specialists, potentially leaving the door open for one of the naturally faster athletes in the field.
If he has sufficiently recovered from the AfricanX and can cope with some technical trail sections, Gauteng’s Edwin Sesipi has the speed to contest the Two Oceans, as does 2012 Two Oceans and 2014 Cape Town Peace Trail winner Lucky Miya. Perennial thirdplaced finisher Mapepane Mahlangu, Tranquil Gumbo and young Capetonian Jarryd Dunn are also likely to make a dash for the top positions.
Arguably South Africa’s leading female trail runner, Greyling is chasing her fifth Two Oceans long trail title. She was in top form at the AfricanX, comfortably winning the women’s team title with partner Mackenzie.
Unlike Calitz, Greyling’s path to the top of the podium appears unchallenged. Barring an incapacitating fall – always a possibility with technical trail racing such as the Two Oceans – Greyling is heavily favoured to win again.
However, one athlete who can never be written off is veteran Katya Soggot, a fearsome competitor who pushed Greyling close in the 2012 Two Oceans race.
Soggot ran within herself in finishing third with partner Chantal Nienaber at the AfricanX and looks certain to join Greyling at the top of the pile next week.
Lelani Scheffer, winner of the AfricanX mixed team category, has improved substantially and looks a good bet to join the early finishers after her tough early morning mountain encounter.