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Mar-18-2008
Netshifhefhe, Biktagirova to Defend Two Oceans Titles
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
The 39th Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, to be run over 56 km this Saturday, March 22, in Cape Town, South Africa, will be momentous for a number of reasons. Foremost among these is that the event will have a new race director for the first time in 28 years, with Rowyn James succeeding Chet Sainsbury, who retired after last years Two Oceans, which is always held the Saturday before Easter.
The race also has a new technical sponsor in PUMA, while both defending champions, Bethuel Netshifhefhe and Madina Biktagirova, will be returning.
Almost 19,000 runners have entered the ultramarathon and the accompanying half-marathon, which will be held for the 11th time. The shorter race has attracted a record field of 11,213, making it South Africas biggest half-marathon.
All ten of last year's gold medalists (NOTE: a top-10 finisher is a gold medalist --Ed.) will be at the start line. Netshifhefhe won in 3:07:56, improving his previous best for the race by more than 10 minutes. Although he failed to finish the IAAF World Championships Marathon later in 2007, he was fourth in the SA Marathon earlier this year in 2:18:56. Apart from that he has been keeping a rather low profile, but is reportedly very fit.
Josiah Thugwane, the 1996 Olympic Marathon champion who finished 1 min 43 sec behind Netshifhefhe last year, has not been keeping a low profile and scored victories in the Bronkhorstspruit 32 km and the Matla Gold Marathon. Although he had a slight injury during the marathon, he expressed confidence in his chances to win the Two Oceans. The tiny Thugwane, now 35, has a rather spotty record in marathons over the last few years, failing to finish quite a few (the most recent being the 2007 Cape Town Marathon), but it is known that he dearly wants to win the Two Oceans and after last years debut appearance he should be able to run a much better tactical race.
Zimbabwean runners dominated the race between 2004 and 2006, but last year the best performance by South Africas northern neighbour was Hatiwande Nyamandes third in 3:11:07. The only other Zimbabwean in the top ten was 2006 winner Moses Njodzi, who was fifth in 3:12:21 much slower than the brilliant 3:06:50 he had recorded for his win.
The other 2007 gold medal winners who will run again are Claude Moshiywa (4th), Mabule Raphotle (6th), Sipho Ngomane (7th), John Mboko (8th), Joseph Maerman (9th) and Neo Molema (10th).
Two other runners to watch are Zimbabwean Marco Mambo and Mzwanele Maphekula. Mambo won in 2004 and 2005 and could gain his permanent blue number if he wins again. He is the only runner since Thompson Magawana in 1988 who has been able to go under 3:06 his 3:05:39 is fourth on the all-time list behind Magawana (3:03:44 in 1988 and 3:05:31 in 1987) and Johnny Halberstadt (3:05:37 in 1981). However, it is very likely that Magawanas superb course record will survive another year. Counting against Mambo is the fact that he failed to finish both last year and the year before. Maphekula, on the other hand, missed a gold medal by one place and 22 seconds last year and will surely want to improve on that (he was fourth in 2006); he has been very quiet so far this year.
Another double winner who can achieve a blue number with a third win is Russian Yelena Nurgalieva, who won in 2004 and 2005. According to their own high standards, she and twin sister Olesya did not have good runs in 2007, finishing third and fourth, respectively. They were simply beaten by two better runners, yet their times of 3:35:34 and 3:35:55, respectively, were still good enough for fourth and fifth on the all-time list. A few weeks later Olesya scored her first win in the Comrades ultramarathon and proceeded to finish fourth in the Osaka Marathon and third in the Soweto Marathon.
Both runners ahead of the twins in 2007 ran the Two Oceans for the first time and recorded phenomenal times. Biktagirova (RUS) won in 3:35:04, the closest anyone has been able to get to Frith van der Merwes great 3:30:36 in 1989. At 42 Biktagirova was the oldest winner of the race since Janet Bailey in 1978 and she was also and will be again the fastest marathoner ever to enter.
Finishing 11 seconds behind her was compatriot Lilia Yadzhak, like Biktagirova in her first ultramarathon. Not satisfied with one ultra, Biktagirova then competed in the Comrades too and came third. With Yadzhak not running this time, Biktagirova must surely start as favourite to repeat her victory.
However, there is another previous Russian winner in the race: Tatyana Zhirkova. She won in 2006 in 3:36:19 and last year was a disappointing seventh. In 2005 she scored a magnificent sub-6 hour victory in the Comrades. The battle between these four Russians will be fascinating.
Other runners to watch will be South Africans Farwa Mentoor, first South African in the last six Comrades (and in the last two Two Oceans), and Riana van Niekerk, who has already finished second in the SA Marathon and first in the Pretoria Marathon this year. Louisa Leballo, Adinda Kruger and Leanne Juul can all finish in the top ten.
Both James and Sainsbury will be running, the former in the traditional Friday race for athletes who -mostly for religious reasons- do not want to, or cannot run, on the Saturday. Sainsbury (64), in his 27th Two Oceans, will be going all out for the medal named for him, which has a 5-hour time limit. He missed it by just over 14 minutes last year, but with the pressure of organising the race off his shoulders, he believes he has a better chance this time.
Other special runners will be Noel Stamper, who has missed only one race; Cyril Niit, who will be going for his 24th silver medal (sub-4:00) in 24 starts; and Eeden Meyer (62), who will run his tenth half marathon after having finished twenty ultras the first runner to do so.
First prize for both men and women, apart from the one-ounce gold medal, is R150,000 (USD 18,400). There are also incentives for breaking the course
records: R25,000 (US $3100) cash plus a Volkswagen car. The cut-off time is 7 hours; last year 6529 runners completed the race within this time.
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