Manda Gomes of Nedbank LVCC finished 17th woman overall and first in the women’s 40 to 44 category at the Istanbul Marathon on Sunday, October 2.

In her first marathon since recovering from a serious injury, Manda, with limited training hours, ran only 12 minutes and 21 seconds slower than her personal best time.

Her husband Robbie also completed the marathon. The Nedbank LVCC runner had also overcome health obstacles in his sports career and personal life, surviving a potentially fatal illness.

The couple celebrated their health, their lives, their wedding anniversary and Robbie’s birthday by running 42.2km from Asia to Europe.

The Istanbul Marathon is one of the world’s most scenic, and the only one that spans two continents. Starting on the Asian side in Altunizade, runners cross the iconic July 15 Martyrs Bridge over the Bosphorus Strait into Europe. The route follows the beautiful coastline of the Bosphorus and Marmara seas before finishing between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.

The somewhat surprising race achievement was a cherished moment for Manda after she experienced a setback in her running career earlier this year. She was entered into the 2025 Comrades Marathon as an elite runner. Shortly before the ultramarathon, she suffered a grade three stress fracture of the left superior pubic ramus along with additional fractures and surrounding edema. “My doctor advised that I should not participate. I had no strength in my left leg,” Manda said

She withdrew from the Comrades. “It took 12 weeks off the road to heal. I started my new training programme about nine weeks ago with my coach, Peter Smit.”

Robbie was known as an excellent marathon and ultramarathon runner. He contracted Covid-19 in 2020 and due to his long road to complete recovery, had not run a marathon in five years.

But Manda and Robbie were off to Turkey.

“In October, Robbie received a holiday trip to Turkey through his work at Vodacom Repairs Nelspruit – a 50th birthday gift from Dave England. The trip coincided with his 50th birthday on October 14 and our 20th wedding anniversary on October 22, making it an already special experience. While planning, we discovered that the Istanbul Marathon was happening on November 2, and decided to extend our stay by two nights to take part.”

Nowhere near as fit and prepared as she was when she set her personal best time of 02:57:59 in the challenging Elands Marathon in March, Manda lined up in group A at the start. “Honestly, I felt grateful just to be there. I was only in week nine of training after injury, and I’d even missed a full week of running due to our busy sightseeing schedule in Cappadocia and Istanbul. So I went into the race with no expectations – just to enjoy it, soak up the scenery, and run pain-free.”

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Manda was in the lead in her category by the 5km split (00:20:27), with Ilkay Dönmez of Turkey 39 seconds behind. Because of the multitude of runners, neither was aware of their proximity to each other or their positions in the race.

The Lowveld runner held onto a narrow lead over the Turk up to the 15km mark, but by the halfway stage Dönmez (01:28:30) had moved into a 30-second lead over Manda.

By 30km Dönmez (02:07:51) had increased her lead to 2 minutes and 50 seconds. But it was Manda who had more fuel in the tank over the final 12km. By the 35km split (02:34:16), she had cut the lead to 44 seconds and overtook Dönmez by the 40km mark.

Manda clocked a finish time of 03:10:20 and Dönmez 03:10:51.

Out of the 53 South Africans to complete the race, Manda was the fastest, with the second to tenth SA finishers all men.

“The route was mostly flat from start to finish, which is very different from the hills and descents we train on in the Lowveld. I paced myself comfortably and ran strong throughout. I didn’t aim for a particular position, I just focused on enjoying the run,” Manda said.

“I had plenty of Turkish kebabs before the race and felt a bit heavier than usual, so I wasn’t expecting much in terms of performance – but it all came together beautifully on the day.”

Robbie finished in 04:30:04, the second South African in the men’s 50 to 54 category over the finish line.
He had been forced to take even a longer break from running, so just competing was exceptionally special for him.

“It was Robbie’s first marathon since recovering from long Covid, which he contracted in June 2020. That made the experience even more meaningful for both of us – a real celebration of health and endurance,” Manda said.

Over 41 000 athletes competed in the Istanbul Marathon and 15.5km race.