Finally Thabang bags a Two Oceans Title

Modern Athlete 2023 Road Runner of the Year, Thabang Mosiako, completed unfinished Two Oceans business in style while Lesotho athlete, Mokulubete Blandine Masakiti, edged out Cian Oldknow in a close race at the Totalsports Two Oceans Half Marathon in Cape Town this morning (Sunday 14 April).

14 000 runners enjoyed cool conditions with relatively little wind and while the elite runners raced much of the 21km circuit under streetlights, most of the field enjoyed the sight of the sunrise-lit mountains providing a striking backdrop to the ‘World’s Most Beautiful Half Marathon’.

After six previous attempts at the race, which included five top ten gold medals, but never a podium finish, Mosiako was on the point of calling it a day on Oceans competition.  “I’ve been running Two Oceans for many years – this one I had to win,” said the Eastern Cape athlete.  If I hadn’t won, I think I would have said ‘I’m done with Two Oceans, I’m not coming back!’ 

“Now perhaps I’ll be back next year, but I will first have to discuss with my coach and manager.”

If Mosiako were to sign off here, potentially upgrading to the 56km some time in the future, he did so in impressive fashion. He blitzed the second half of the course at faster than 3 minutes per kilometre pace to high-five his way through the final kilometre and break the tape in 1 hr 04 min 40 sec, well clear of the explosive contest for second place which was set to take place.

Pretoria athlete and sub-4 minute miler, George Kusch, soon tired of the early pedestrian pace and pulled away from his rivals on the climb up Protea Road and Edinburgh Drive. By the time he crested the top of Wynberg Hill, he was over 100 metres clear and running strongly.

“I found the pace a bit slow at the start so moved ahead,” explained Kusch, who returned to South Africa last year following a university track and field scholarship at North Arizona University in the USA. “I’m new to road running and especially the half marathon, so I need to learn more about pacing.”

With Kusch disappearing into the darkness, Mosiako and co decided it was time to make their move. Last year’s third-place finisher, Lesotho’s Jobo Khatoane, led the charge down towards Constantia, with Mosiako, Zimbabwean Wellington Varevi and Langa’s William Kaptein close behind and drawing level with Kusch shortly before the runners turned off the freeway.

The leaders ran through 5km in a relatively slow 15:58 and remained together for the next 4km until the athletes started the climb up Southern Cross Drive.

“The pace was quite slow, so I made my move around 9km,” said Mosiako. “We stayed together for a bit before the others seem to drop back.”

Varevi and Kusch held Mosiako through 10km in 32:15 with Khatoane 6 seconds back and Kaptein and two other Lesotho athletes, Kamohelo Mofolo and former winner Namakoe Nkhasi a further 10 seconds behind.

Mosiako gradually drew away up Southern Cross Drive and crested the highest point near the 14km mark 16 seconds up on Kusch.  He drew further ahead on the roller-coaster to the Kirstenbosch top gate before sweeping downhill to a 53 second victory on the University of Cape Town’s sport fields.

“I enjoyed it so much out there,” Mosiako said. “It was a lot of fun today.”

Kusch had stayed in contention for much of the second half and appeared to have a clear run through for second place, but Mofolo had other ideas.

After lying in 6^th place for much of the race, Mofolo moved up the field and 2km from the finish had taken over third place.

“In the early part of the race I wasn’t feeling very well, especially on the downhill sections,” related Mofolo. “I started to feel better in the second half and made up some places on the climbs. At 19km I first saw George and started to push. There’s a small climb on the approach to UCT and I thought that I could use that to my advantage.”

An all-out effort saw Mofolo drawing level with Kusch on the UCT fields just 100m from the finish. A neck and neck sprint brought the crowds to their feet to see Mofolo getting ahead on the line to beat Kusch by 0.3 seconds, both athletes clocked at 1:05:33.

A welcome new addition to road competition in South Africa, Kusch looks forward to continuing and improving on his current form. “I took some time off running in 2023 when I decided to return to South Africa,” Kusch explained.

“I wanted to take a break from track and switched to road and I would have to say it’s a lot more fun! I thought I would try some longer road races and the Two Oceans is a very recognisable name.  So when Nick (Bester – the Nedbank team manager) called me about running the half, I was excited to take part in an event which has so many people competing.”

Further down the field, Masakiti and Oldknow had been engaged in a close battle for supremacy throughout the race, leading through 5km in 18:09, 37 seconds up on Phantane athlete Nwabisa Mjoli with another Lesotho athlete, Malineo Mahloko and trail athlete, Bianca Tarboton rounding out the top five.

The two were still together at 10km, which they reached in 36:51, a minute up on Tarboton, who had moved into third position.

It was the diminutive Maxed Elite athlete, Makatisi, who made the decisive move after 14km and passed 15km in 53:39, 13 seconds up on Oldknow. She held the gap to the finish, winning in 1:13:52.

Oldknow crossed the line in 1:14:08 and was pleased with her form ahead of the national marathon championships in Durban at the end of the month and the Paris Olympic Marathon in August.

“Blandine ran a really good race today. I worked hard to try and stay in contention but in the end she just had too much speed. I’m in marathon preparation phase now and have not worked much on speed, which isn’t yet where I’d like it to be.”

Tarboton took third in 1:19:27 to complete her block on the road ahead of her trail season in Europe as part of the international adidas TERREX team.

“The level of trail running is so high in Europe you have to gain as much speed as possible. So racing Two Oceans at the beginning of the year has been great for me before switching to trail.”