Defending champion Stephen Mokoka once again showed why he is SA’s premier marathoner as he claimed a third win in the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon.
The Olympian and multiple SA champion broke the tape in 2hr 09min 58sec, three seconds faster than his winning 2:10:01 in 2021 and the fourth-fastest winning time in the race’s history.
The leading men ran conservatively in the first half, passing halfway in 1:05:36, with Mokoka biding his time near the front of the lead pack until the 32km mark.
He then made his move and steadily increased his lead over the last 10km — he was 21sec clear of second-placed Ethiopian Derseh Kindie Kassie at 35km, and just over a minute clear at 40km.
“This was a tough, tough course. Normally at 25km you start enjoying a marathon, but at 28km today we climbed that hill in District Six and it got really hard for a while,” said Mokoka.
Second spot went to Kassie in 2:11:26, with his countryman Dagnachew Adere Maru outsprinting Kenya’s Raymond Kipchumba Choge to take third place.
In the women’s race, Meseret Dinke Meleka of Ethiopia took line honours in 2:24:02, smashing the 2:25:44 record (run in 2021 by Lydia Simiyu), and also breaking her personal best of 2:25:12. Second over the line was Kenyan Tecla Kirongo in 2:27:56 with another Kenyan, Judith Cherono, taking third in 2:30:32.
The first South African to finish was Stella Marais, clocking 2:38:34 to claim eighth position.
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