Friday, July 18, 2025

Athletics

African and world athletics from an African angle, here on SPNAfrica News, with Live athletics events and Video On Demand stories on SPNAfrica.com

“I can go even faster” Elroy Gelant breaks the South African Marathon Record

Twenty-six years ago, Prieska (Northern Cape) athlete, Gert Thys, won the final Tokyo Marathon of the 20th century in 2 hrs 06 min 33 sec – the fastest time ever by a South African athlete. This mark has finally...

Mega-stars Gerda and Stephen headline Saturday’s Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon

Two of South Africa’s distance-running mega-stars, Stephen Mokoka and Gerda Steyn, are race favourites for Saturday’s Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon, to be run on the traditional 56km course over Chapman’s Peak and Constantia Nek, but a clutch of talented...

Two Oceans Trail is back as evergreen Nicholas Rupanga eyes a podium position

The Miwaylife Two Oceans Trail Races open the 2025 Two Oceans weekend tomorrow morning (Friday 4 April) with the traditional ‘long’ and ‘short’ trail races taking place on and around the slopes of Devil’s Peak and Table Mountain. The Two...

‘Supercharged’ Glenrose in convincing win in SPAR Women’s Challenge opener

Glenrose 'Supercharge' Xaba clinched a memorable victory at the opening race in the 2025 SPAR Women’s Challenge 10km Series in Cape Town this morning (Sunday 30 March), underlining her status as the country’s leading marathon and sub-marathon athlete. Xaba successfully...

Sekgodiso sizzles in China

It’s 12 744km from Stellenbosch, South Africa, to Nanjing in China, but Prudence Sekgadiso and Akani Simbine made the crossing seamlessly, taking their top-drawer performances at the Athletics and Cycling Education (ACE) Trust meeting at Höerskool Stellenbosch just over two...

Underson and Marion on point at Pass to Pass Ultra-trail

Underson Ncube and Marion Leiberich produced the performances of the day at the Pass to Pass Ultra-Trail presented by Hoka, while Zimbabwe-born Admire Muzopambwa won the gruelling ‘Hundred’ in one of South Africa’s most testing ultra-trail challenges. Now in its...

SA’s Bianca Tarboton races to memorable trail victory Down Under

Otter TERREX Trail champions, Bianca Tarboton and Robbie Simpson, turned in top performances at the Tarawera Ultra-trail by UTMB, run from New Zealand’s North Island centre of Rotorua this weekend (Saturday 15 February), with kiwi athletes Ruth Croft and...

Top marathoners contest national medals in South Africa’s oldest marathon

The oldest running marathon in South Africa, the Balwin Sport Peninsula Marathon, moves up a gear on Sunday when it hosts the ASA South Africa Marathon Championships for the first time in its 57-year history. The race was founded in...

Otter’s champions set to take on New Zealand’s best at Tarawera

Current Otter TERREX Trail Champions, Robbie Simpson and Bianca Tarboton, take on a strong international line-up at Tarawera Ultra-trail by UTMB, New Zealand’s most important trail event, this weekend. South Africa’s premier trail marathon, ‘the Otter’, which takes place in...

Three from Africa set for trail action Down Under at Tarawera

Three of South Africa’s best-known women trail athletes will line up at the start of New Zealand’s biggest trail race - the 16th Tarawera Ultra-trail by UTMB, facing challenges of sporting excellence and embracing powerful life experiences through connecting...