Cape Town virtual could hail new generation

The withdrawal of three leading marathoners from next Sunday’s (October 18) Sanlam Virtual Cape Town Marathon has opened the way for a new generation of South Africa’s elite athletes to step up and take the honours at Africa’s only gold label marathon.

Cape Town Marathon champion in 2018 and the country’s leading distance athlete, Stephen Mokoka, and strong marathoner, Collen Mulaudzi, have opted to take the opportunity of racing in the World Half Marathon Championships in Poland. Both were slated to run in the Potchefstoom “sub-race” of the Cape Town Marathon, alongside Elroy Galant, who has withdrawn through injury.

But just as the absence of tennis’ “Big Three”, Federer and Nadal through remaining in Europe and Djokovic through disqualification, opened the way for the next generation to take honours at the recent US Tennis Open, so the loss of a few top athletes from the field of next Sunday’s race provides a gilt-edged opportunity for many talented younger athletes to challenge for higher honours.

While Athletics South Africa have been slow to re-engage with live sport, either within South Africa or abroad, and opted not to send a team to the championships in Poland, Mokoka, Mulaudzi and top female athlete, Glenrose Xaba have chosen to pay their way to Europe and enter as individuals. Mokoka, in particular, has the ability and recent form to challenge for a podium position and even the title itself, which would be the second time for South Africa following Elana van Zyl’s win in 1994.

“Although it’s disappointing to lose athletes of the calibre of Stephen, Elroy and Collen, we will always support athletes to take advantage of running internationally against the world’s best, and certainly will be wishing them well for the world championships,” explained Cape Town Marathon race ambassador and former athletics great, Elana van Zyl.

“We would normally build much more into contracts for the athletes to run Cape Town Marathon, but this year has been different. Athletes have not had the chance to race for six months and now they are itching to race. If they can run internationally, that’s even better, so we support those running in Poland and will be right behind them.

“The plus side for Cape Town, is that it will give athletes such as Joel (Mmone) and David (Manja) a real chance on the big stage. They’ve proved themselves in shorter distances but I doubt they would have been able to stand up to the likes of Stephen and Elroy. Now they have a real chance. And it remains one of the strongest fields ever for a marathon in South Africa.

“The exciting addition of Annie Bothma to the field for the Cape Town race provides another element of excitement, with the real possibility of Bothma gaining the attention of the selectors for next year’s Olympics marathon team.  She’s been training with (world marathon record holder) Bridget Kosgei’s group in Kenya and is a much stronger athlete than when she ran her debut marathon in Cape Town last year.”

Twenty-nine-year old athlete, Manja, will be eyeing top spot on the podium. The Klerksdorp-based athlete has enjoyed success in Cape Town on many occasions in recent years and has been the dominant athlete in the popular Gun Run Half Marathon, having bagged four titles since his first win in 2013. He has also podiumed at the Two Oceans Half Marathon on three occasions, winning the highly competitive race in 2018.

And Manja showed he has the strength to excel in the marathon when he finished runner up in the 2018 Dublin Marathon in his personal best of 2 hr 13 min 32 sec, which he will be looking to beat next Sunday, after the “altitude factor” has been applied to his time in Potchefstroom.  The decision was taken to apply a corrective factor to those times of athletes running at altitude in Pretoria and Potchefstroom in order to level the playing fields with their Cape Town counterparts.

Fellow Klerksdorp athlete, Mmone, will also be looking for Cape Town marathon glory in Potchefstroom. Less consistent than Manja, Mmone has also achieved success at the Two Oceans and Gun Run half marathons, holding the race record of 1:02:31 for the latter, achieved in winning the title in 2015.

There will be considerable interest in whether talented Port Elizabeth distance athlete, Melikhaya Frans, will have recovered sufficiently from running a 2:13:50 personal best just two weeks ago at the London Marathon to be a significant factor in the Cape Town race.

In the women’s competition, the withdrawals of Jenna Challenor and Caroline Josten (through injury) and Meg Mackenzie (focusing on the Golden Trail Championships on the Azores at the end of the month) are more than offset by the exciting addition of Bothma.

One of South Africa’s most talented distance athletes and boasting an impressive string of national and international successes, Bothma has yet to get serious over the marathon distance, although there was nothing shabby about her 2 hr 41 min debut in placing 10^th (and the first South African) at last year’s Cape Town Marathon.

Bothma has had to overcome significant challenges in her young life, including a rare disorder which curtailed the production of hormones from her pituitary gland and being hit by a pickup truck while jogging home from a training session while on an athletics scholarship programme in the USA. Her injuries forced her out of running for the best part of a year.

Bothma’s main success has come on the track and in cross country and by the age of 19 she had represented South Africa twice at the World Cross Country Championships, before going on to enjoy a stellar career at university in the USA, once she had recovered from her injuries. She returned to South Africa with a number of regional and state track and cross-country titles, a Master’s degree in Exercise Science and a personal trainer qualification. 

By her own admission, road running is her favourite discipline and she will be looking to translate that love into an impressive performance at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon next Sunday, likely with one eye on selection for next year’s Olympics in Japan.