Pretoria’s superstar road athlete, Stephen Mokoka, is the new national marathon champion, after winning the ASA Marathon Championships in Cape Town on Sunday in wet and cold weather conditions. Mass distance running in South Africa returned in the nick of time for local favourites Mokoka and Gerda Steyn, delivering spectacular performances on Sunday morning to win the ASA Marathon Championships at the Mother City. The Championship was incorporated into the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in what was a massive road event that saw thousands of other athletes taking part. Mokoka won the men’s open contest in 2:10:01, breaking away from a small lead group in the closing stages to finish 13 seconds ahead of Ethiopian athlete Gebru Redhagne, who finished second overall in 2:10:14. The diminutive Mokoka won gold for Athletics Gauteng North (AGN), while a number of other South African athletes also put up a fight at the front of the race.

“Winning or running a fast time in a marathon is always a blessing, so I’m happy with the way the race unfolded,” said Mokoka, who overcame the wet conditions to win the race for the second time in his career. “I knew we could run faster, but the rain made it difficult and I was glad to be able to run hard over the last two kilometres. Seeing thousands of runners in the field today was awesome. I’m glad we’re able to race in South Africa again and I’m grateful for the opportunity,” he concluded. In the women’s open race, Steyn took the fight to a strong foreign contingent. She ended fourth overall in 2:26:22, with Kenyan athlete Lydia Simiyu taking the win in 2:25:41 on debut, setting the fastest time ever run by a woman on SA soil. In the process, Steyn (AGN) secured a comfortable victory in the ASA Championships. Zinhle Shabalala earned the silver medal in 2:41:53 for KwaZulu-Natal Athletics and Zintle Xiniwe bagged bronze for hosts Western Province Athletics in 2:42:35.  

And it’s Kenya 1-2 as debutant Lydia Simiyu earns the biggest pay check of her career as she dropped Karimi with 1km, crossing the line in 2:25.41 with Karimi in second in 2:25.53. Teferi 3rd 2:26.09 and Steyn 4th 2.26.22. #SanlamCapeTownMarathon pic.twitter.com/wUhyyMYAGi

— Cape Town Marathon (@CTMarathon) October 17, 2021

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