Gerda Steyn’s ultra-long route to Japan
It’s 13 786 km from Durban, South Africa, to Sapporo, Japan, but Gerda Steyn will attempt to bridge the distance between the Comrades and the Olympics marathons with a few strides next Saturday, 7 August, as she goes to the...
Olympics Special – Mokgobu’s dreams of gold
Story by Stephen Granger
Desmond Mokgobu is running shoulder to shoulder with one of host Japan’s favourite marathoners, in the final stages of the biggest race of his life. The two enter the stadium almost stride for stride, but Mokgobu’s...
Olympics Special: Irvette Van Zyl’s remarkable comeback
By Stephen Granger
In May 2020, three-time Soweto Marathon and SPAR Grand Prix 10km series winner, Irvette Van Zyl, chose to go under the knife to relieve the nagging knee pain she had experienced ever since a scooter accident as...
Olympics Special – Elroy Gelant on chasing that medal with the “lion pack”
By Stephen Granger
Elroy Gelant faces one of the biggest tests of his athletics career in Japan in three weeks’ time when he lines up at the start of the Olympic Marathon in Sapporo, 800km north of the Olympic City...
Olympics Special – Stephen Mokoka’s mission in Sapporo
Stephen Mokoka feeds of the support from an activation station en route to winning the 2018 Cape Town Marathon. Photo: Stephen Granger
South African distance running supremo, Stephen Lesego Mokoka, is a man on an extraordinary mission: to follow in...
Marathon de Sables for Nontuthuko Mgabhi
by Stephen Granger
When Nontuthuko Mgabhi lines up in October at one of the world’s most gruelling footraces – the Marathon des Sables ( the Marathon of the Sands) - a multi-day stage race across 250km of scorching sands in the Sahara...
South Africans mount “best ever” Olympics marathon campaign
by Stephen Granger
Five athletes in the South African Olympic squad will be heading to the island of Hokkaido and the city of Sapporo, 800 km north of Japan’s capital and Olympic hub Tokyo, to take part in the women’s...
Killarney circuit fuels Olympic dreams of African runners
It was mission accomplished for South African Olympian, Elroy Galant, who won the Retail Capital Langa Marathon Challenge at a canter in 2 hrs 11 min 22 sec on the Killarney race circuit in Cape Town on Sunday (May...
Breaking Barriers – the Nedbank Ultra on Sunday
The Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers Ultra-marathon, to be run over 50km in Gqeberha on Sunday, has attracted an impressive line-up of runners from the sub-continent and gets full marks for ambition.
The race is billed as an attempt on the...
Langa Marathon Challenge offers an Olympic qualifying “time for Africa”
Elroy Galant tracks eventual winner Kenyan Edwin Koech in the 2019 Cape Town Marathon. Galant races at Killarney at the end of the month. Photo: Stephen Granger
Cape Town is taking its place in the relatively long line of...