Stephen Mokoka wins Cape Town Marathon
Pretoria's superstar road athlete Stephen Mokoka this past weekend beat top Kenyan athletes to win the prestigious Cape Town Marathon.
Pretoria’s Stephen Mokoka took full advantage of the excellent weather conditions in Cape Town this past weekend to destroy arguably the best field yet assembled at Africa’s only IAAF Gold Label Marathon.
Mokoka crossed the line in first place at the Cape Town Marathon in a brilliant time of 2:08.31.
The local star stuck with the pacemakers like glue until the first pacemaker dropped out at halfway with the second pacemaker pulling off at the 30km mark, before breaking away from Kenya’s Philemon Kacherian at 33km.
From there the 33-year-old took control of the race and forged ahead.
“I felt good and decided to go, but I only relaxed and knew I had won the race when I hit the mat at the finish. You know in a marathon it is never over until it is over,” said Mokoka after his victory.
It was a good day at the office for Mokoka, as he not only won his first marathon on South African soil, but he did it in emphatic fashion, breaking the previous course record of Asefa Negewu by 10 seconds.
Not only did Mokoka win the overall title, but in the process was also crowned South Africa marathon champion. Kenya took the next two places as Albert Korir passed a tiring Philemon Kacherian in the final two kilometres to cross the line in 2:09.02 with Kacherian third in 2:09.13.
Mokoka is about to become a father for the first time and the win (R265 000) and the course record incentive of R100 000 will be a welcome cash injection.
“The due date is 26 September so I am excited and winning today will make a big difference,” Mokoka concluded.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
