Angelina Sephooa wins 3rd consecutive Two Oceans
Ultra Marathon
Mark Ouma for IAAF
Lesotho's Angelina Sephooa stole the limelight at
the Two Ocean Ultra Marathon when she won the event for the third consecutive year.
Earlier on the, fans were treated to a thrilling final as Issac Tshabalala emerged
victorious in an exciting finish of the men's race.
True to the pre-race predictions, the women's race was the main focus of attention as
South Africa's ultra marathon debutantes, Gwen Griffiths and Sarah Mahlangu set out to
challenge defending champion Sephooa.
Griffiths who dethroned Sephooa in the SA marathon five weeks ago, set the pace covering
the standard marathon (42.2km) in 2:43. Running slightly ahead of Mahlangu, Sephooa bid
her time crossing the 42.2 km mark in 2.45.
The defending champion made her move shortly after 44km, catching up and overtaking
Griffiths. Sephooa put her intention to win beyond doubt victory when she opened a one
minute over Griffiths at the top of the steep 150 metre Constantia Nek incline (46km).
Once ahead Sephooa was in a class of her own as she stepped up her tempo and went on to
win the 56km race in 3:38.09. Griffiths was second in 3: 41.14, while Mahlangu was third
in 3:44.49. Sephooa's winning time is the second fastest time behind Frith van der Merwe's
1989 course record of 3:30:36. Making an emotional return to the events after a ten year
lay-off, Van der Merwe was tenth in 4:04:23.
"I am very, very happy to make it three in a row. This is what l have been training
and praying for all year. I wanted to make history and l am happy l have, "said
Sephooa.
Looking ahead, she has decided to take a break from running ultra marathons. "I will
concentrate more on the shorter race 10km, 15km and half marathons. I want to run a fast
marathon".
"Angelina's next race is the Prague marathon May 23. She will be accompanying her
husband Percy who will aim to break this 2:18 mark. Angelina will use Prague as a fun run.
Our plan is to see if she can run a sub 2.30 at the Berlin marathon on September 27,"
said her manager Jacque Malan who also manages South Africa's Olympic marathon Champion
Josiah Thugwane.
Sephooa has equalled Monica Drögemöller's record of winning the Two Ocean's on three
consecutive occasions. Drögemöller won the event in 1990, 1991,and 1992. Sephooa won the
event in 3:45:45 in 1997 and 3:49:56 last year.
Tshabalala signalled his intention to win after he took the lead 10km into the race. He
went through the 42.2km mark in 2.32, and 2:50 at Kirstenbosch (50km). He continued to
lead until Rose drive (52km) when Zibi caught up and breezed past him. All seemed to be
going Zibi's way until in the last 800m when Tshabalala drew level.
This ignited a thrilling rush for the line, with Tshabalala getting the better of Zibi in
the last 120m of the race. Tshabalala won the race in 3:11:20 to Zibi's 3:11:33. Edgar
Clarke was third in 3:11:45.
This is Tshabalala second victory at this event having won it in 1993 in 3:14.29. In 1991
he was fifth in 3:19.40. Today his win has fetched him Rands 60,000 in prize money.
"I came here to win the race and that is why l went out hard from the beginning. It
is difficult to catch up with the race leaders if you running conservatively in the
beginning. When Zibi overtook me and failed to make a decisive gap, l was not worried as l
knew he had worked very, very hard to catch up with me. So when it came to the final
sprint l knew l had an edge over him, "said Tshabalala.
" Frankly, l was not 100 per cent ready for this race because I had just buried my
mother-in -law. After discussing the merits of competing with my wife, we decided l would
compete so as to win the money and help offset outstanding funeral expences. Nobody should
count me out as a possible winner of this event next year," said Zibi whose as runner
up is Rands 30,000 richer.
LEADING RESULTS
Note: All athletes are South Africans unless where mentioned.
MEN
1 Issac Tshabalala 3:11:20
2 Desmond Zibi3:11:33
3 Edgar Clarke 3:11:45
4 Linda Nene3:12:18
5 Mphanyane Flathela3:12:26
6 Donovan Wright3:13:01
7 Johannes Maluleka3:13:37
8 Lukas Matlala3:13:58
9 Temba Phulu (Zimbabwe) 3:14:02
10 Peterson Khumalo3:14:06
WOMEN
1 Angelina Sephooa (Lesotho)3:38:09
2 Gwen Griffiths3:41:14
3 Sarah Mahlangu3:44:49
4 Grace de Oliviera 3:51.43
5 Berna Daly3:57.01
6 Kim-Marie Goff (USA)3:58:29
7 Madeleen Otto4:00:45
8 Helen Joubert4:01:11
9 Linah Mhlongo4:02:45
10 Frith van der Merwe4:04:23
