They were cheering on one of their own at Scottsville Racing Course, the pre-COVID packed crowd welcoming Howick-based Nkosikhona Mhlakwana as he approached the finish of the 2019 Comrades Marathon. A gold medal for the debutant looked certain. Then disaster struck.
Running in 9th place with a clear gap to the following runner, Mhlakwana suddenly pulled up, clutching his leg in agony. By the time the Maxed-elite runner had crawled across the line, two runners had overtaken him, dropping him into 11th place, one off gold.
Fast forward to April last year. Another ultra-marathon debut for Mhlakwana, this time in the World’s Most Beautiful Marathon – the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon. There was to be no cramping this time, only a superbly crafted exhibition of ultra-marathon running, as the man known both as ‘Caster’ and ‘The Pitbull’ came within three seconds of victory in a sprint finish against Ethiopian Edndale Belachew.
Trained by Comrades gold medallist and Ultra-trail Cape Town winner, Prodigal Khumalo, Mhlakwana has excelled both on road and trail in recent years and his superb performance last year was acknowledged by three-times Comrades and former Two Oceans champion, Bongmusa Mthembu, who had a ‘ring-side seat’ of Mhlakwana’s race, running with him for much of the way before finishing fourth.
“I think he can become a great ultra-distance athlete if he chooses Two Oceans and Comrades as his priority goals,” said Mthembu last year. And the 29-year-old Mhlakwana is doing just that, his sights set on the 2023 Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon.
And further fuelling his passion is the fact that he failed to win last year.
“I can’t wait to be back – the Mother City is a wonderful place to race,” said Mhlakwana while taking a break from his preparation. “Cape Town has been one of my favourite places to race since my early days of running 1500m races on the track! Things are always in my favour running in Cape Town.”
Since Mhlakwana made his Two Oceans Half Marathon debut in 2019 with a modest 1:08:35 for 22nd place, his results have improved year on year and on his next visit to Cape Town he stopped the watches in 2:21:41 in the Cape Town leg of the three-cities Cape Town Marathon in 2021, four minutes behind Mthembu in second place.
Six months later he ran a near-perfect race in the Two Oceans 56km, holding back at first and only connecting with the lead pack after halfway. He made all the right moves on Chapman’s Peak and Constantia Nek before going head to head with 2:08 marathoner, Belachew, in the final kilometres before the thrilling climax of a sprint in the closest finish in Two Oceans’ history.
“The Two Oceans has been my major focus this year and I’m very happy to be coming back. I’ve had no injury worries at all and I’ve had exceptional support from my coach (Prodigal Khumalo) and my club and sponsor, Holywood Athletics Club.
“My aim is simply to run a better time this year – I’m in better shape now than I’ve been before so I’m confident I can achieve that.
“We haven’t changed anything substantially regarding my preparation this year, but I’ve done more hill work to build strength and done longer runs. Most of the hard work is behind me and I feel ready to race.
“Regarding last year’s race, I have no regrets. There was nothing else I could have done last year to win. As much as you train hard, God will decide on the day. In fact, I appreciate that I came second, as this has increased my hunger. Perhaps if I’d won, I wouldn’t have the same feeling for Oceans this year. Now I’m fully motivated to better myself.
“Cape Town is the place to be in April. Where Indian and Atlantic oceans meet, that’s where to go. I’m grateful to Totalsports and Two Oceans Marathon for giving me the opportunity to come and run the most beautiful ultra-marathon in the world. There’s a good atmosphere over the weekend, excellent enjoyment and entertainment – the perfect race!
“And the exposure we got on TV was fantastic and really helped me. After last year I found that corporates wanted to connect with us more than ever, which has been helping me and the sport in general.”
Mhlakwana buried the ghosts of his 2019 Comrades Marathon saga last year with an impressive 6th position to claim his first gold and almost certainly the man from Howick will reap further rewards in that race. But for now, his focus is entirely on Cape Town.
“I’m not even thinking of Comrades,” concludes Mhlakwana. “For now all my focus is on Two Oceans. My fitness is at another level and I can’t wait to race Two Oceans again.”
While Mhlakwana is looking to move up one position from last year’s race to take the win, a foot injury has prevented Pretoria athlete, Irvette van Zyl, from joining his quest. ASICS athlete, Van Zyl, ran the race of her life last year to finish inside Frith van der Merwe’s long-standing record, but was robbed of victory by a flying Gerda Steyn.
“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Van Zyl had said after her superb run last year. “To finally beat Frith’s long standing record in one of my best races is amazing, but to lose the record even before I had broken it is hard to take. But Gerda ran an incredible race today. Next year I’ll just have to be faster!”
Sadly ‘next year’ was not to be as the three-time Olympian pondered the cruel fate which had befallen her.
“Unfortunately, I will not be able to run Oceans this year,” said Van Zyl. “It is a real blow for me and I am devastated. I have been struggling for months with a foot issue and the doctors have decided now that I should rest up until it is completely healed. I am cross training but will only start running again the week of Oceans.”
