Remembering Mbuleli in Two Oceans Classic on Sunday

Many of South Africa’s leading road speedsters are in Cape Town for this weekend’s Totalsports Two Oceans Half Marathon, but the defending champion will be a notable absentee.

The talented young athlete from the Phantane club, Mbuleli Mathanga, lost his life just five months after winning the 2023 Two Oceans Half Marathon title and shortly after representing South Africa at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships. He will be sorely missed but his life will also be remembered in this year’s edition.

A powerful elite-athlete field, which includes past winners and strong younger athletes, will line up in Newlands Main Road on Sunday morning alongside the masses, capped at 14 000.

While it is unlikely the leaders will take time out to appreciate the sunrise gilding the mountain tops as they stride out past Kirstenbosch in the final quarter, a backdrop worthy of ‘the World’s Most Beautiful Marathon’, it is certain that thousands behind them with less urgent goals will do so.

“It’s a wonderful spectacle – throngs of runners set against breathtaking scenery,” enthused Gary Scott, CEO of race partner KIA. “This is a magical alignment with our brand slogan, ‘Movement that inspires’”.

An interesting feature of this year’s ‘Oceans’ is the number of former Two Oceans Half Marathon champions who have opted to race the full 56km distance, including Stephen Mokoka, David Manja and Xolisa Tyali, while multiple half marathon winner, Irvette van Zyl, will again be racing the ultra.

Modern Athlete’s Road Runner of the Year for 2023 (shorter distance), Thabang Mosiako, boasts an enviable race record over the past twelve months and despite his relatively poor outcome in last year’s race and his coach Michael Mbambani’s protestations, he starts favourite to lift the Two Oceans 21km trophy for the first time.

“After last year’s (Two Oceans Half Marathon) race I had to crack the whip”, Mbambani admitted. “Thabang did not race according to our plan and paid the price. But he learnt from that and recorded some good performances later in the year.”

Top of Thabang’s hit parade was undoubtedly his superb 59:52 for 6^th place at the World Half Marathon Championships in Riga, Latvia, in October, just 16 seconds outside Stephen Mokoka’s national record for the distance, but his impressive 1:00:29 victory in Gqeberha last June to claim the national title ahead of the country’s best comes a close second.

Mosiako’s 27:45 10km in Lille, France, in November, just 10 seconds outside Precious Mashele’s national record set in Gqeberha last April, would have given him plenty of confidence for top performances in 2024 and he launched his 2024 season in style with a 20 second PB in the 5000m at Nelson Mandela University in January, clocking an impressive 13:37.

He followed that up with an impressive 1:01:42 half marathon in Lisbon three weeks back and will feel he is on track to deal with his unfinished business at the Two Oceans Half Marathon.

But Mbambani dismisses talk of Mosiako as race favourite.  “There are many South African athletes capable of excellent performances over the half-marathon on their day and Thabang was well beaten last year, so it’s always hard to predict the outcome.”

Mbambani was likely referring to athletes of the calibre of Elroy Gelant and Lesotho’s Jobo Khatoane, whose second and third places last year behind Mathanga pushed Mosiako off the podium after he had set a fast pace through the first half.  Both Gelant and Khatoane return to Two Oceans action on Sunday and will again strongly contest podium positions.

‘Pacaltsdorp’s favourite son’, Gelant, is one of the most experienced distance runners on the continent and boasts an enviable record at the Two Oceans Half Marathon. In five starts between 2015 and 2023, Gelant has never dropped below second place, and he had planned to add to his single victory in 2019, when he clocked a speedy 1:03:17, just two seconds outside Lesotho athlete Namakoe Nkhasi’s race record established in 2017.

But after placing a competitive second in last weekend’s Run Your City Gqeberha 10km, Gelant has been a late withdrawal from this weekend’s race. “I can still qualify for the Olylmpics through world ranking,” explained Gelant today. “So I have to prioritise my races.

“It’s important to have a top race at the ASA Marathon Championships in Durban in three weeks’ time and I don’t think my body would have recovered sufficiently to be in tip-top form.  So this year I’ll be an interested spectator on the couch, but next year Oceans is certainly on my radar!”

In the women’s contest on Sunday, Hollywood’s Cian Oldknow’s superb Olympic-qualifying 2:25:08 in Seville in Spain in February places a target on her back at the Two Oceans, something she acknowledges. “I guess I do have a target, but you have to enjoy and embrace the pressure,” said Oldknow at today’s Two Oceans media conference. “There are some great ladies running on Sunday but I’m looking forward to a relaxed hill run on one of the most scenic routes in the world.”

After running the race of her life, Oldknow looks forward to testing her Paris Olympic preparation with a solid performance at Oceans.

Oldknow returns to the Two Oceans seven years after experiencing the ‘gees’ of the event as a junior athlete.  “⁠Two Oceans is special to me as it was the first half marathon I did as a junior back in 2015!” recalled Oldknow earlier this week. “We always did it as a family holiday event (she ran three successive years 2015-2017) so it holds a lot of special memories with my mom.

“I think it’s quite a prestigious race in South Africa, and it’s great to be a part of these big races that bring the running community together.”

A Two Oceans 21km PB is a betting certainty for Oldknow. While her 1:41:22 time was respectable as a relative running novice and junior in 2015, the Johannesburg-based athlete is now competing at an entirely different level.  Since she signed up as part of the George Bradley stable, she has improved her half marathon time by more than 20 minutes.

Known playfully as ‘Ms PB’, with reference to her history of improving almost with every race, Oldknow recently showed her class by finishing an impressive 7^th against a world-class field in the half marathon at the All-Africa Games in Ghana and will be the athlete to beat next Sunday.

Oldknow’s coach Bradley sees Two Oceans as an important part of her race programme for the year. “Cian’s aim for Oceans is to do a slight taper, race hard, recover well and continue with her training. A win is not the most important goal although she has said she would love to podium.

“We are also looking at the possibility of doing the national marathon championship in Durban two weeks later. She used a marathon to prepare for Seville and we feel that another marathon this month could be beneficial for the Olympics.”

Oldknow herself is excited about racing in Paris as part of Team South Africa following her excellent performances at the World Half Marathon in Latvia last October (where she ran her personal best of 1:10:08) and the All-African Games in Ghana. “It still feels a bit unreal that I might be headed to Paris later this year for the Olympics,” admitted Oldknow.

“But I am so excited for it. It’s always been a dream to go to the Olympics and to be so close to it now feels a bit like dreamland. I’m excited to see what work we can still put in between now and August, and Two Oceans is an important part of that.”

Oldknow will not have it all her own way next Sunday. Lesotho athlete, Mokulubete Makatsi, took the final podium position last year behind British athlete Emma Pallant and Ethiopian Bekelech Wariyo and will look to move up a step or two this year, while Benoni-North’s fast-rising Kate van Jaarsveld will likely improve significantly on her only previous Oceans outing in 2022 when she clocked 1 hr 26 min.

But watch out for Nwabisa!  Inspired and motivated by her Phantane clubmate, Gerda Steyn, Nwabisi Mjoli’s star is on the rise and she has the ability to push her All-African Games teammate, Oldknow, all the way. And Mjoli will have extra motivation on Sunday.

“ I’ll be running this race for Mbuleli (Mathanga – her late Phantane teammate). I’ll be remembering him when I run.

And given the hilly nature of the course, with testing climbs at Edinburgh Drive and Southern Cross Drive key features of the race, don’t rule out world-class trail athlete, Bianca Tarboton, from a top five position.