The World’s Most Beautiful Marathon

Easter Saturday will see 25 000 runners take part in the annual Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon presented by Nike, making it the biggest ever running event in South Africa.

The race dubbed “The World’s Most Beautiful Marathon” starts in scenic Newlands along the Main Road to Fish Hoek, Chapman’s Peak Drive, Hout Bay, Constantia Nek, Rhodes Drive, and Union Avenue to the finish at UCT.

This world famous race is run over 56 kilometres and boasts a top class South African field with an ever growing foreign contingent, which is unsurprising since the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon is an ideal warm up for the Comrades in June.

Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon race director Chet Sainsbury says: “This year promises to be one of the best ever. We have a record field of 11 000 in the half marathon, making it the biggest in South Africa, and close to 8 000 runners will line up for the 56 km ultra marathon, one of the country’s most popular ultra’s.”

Women participation has increased steadily over the years, and they will make up 44% of the field for the 21km event, and 23% of the field for the 56km.

Old Mutual SA’s sponsorship manager Tony Lankester: “We are thrilled with the response this year’s event has attracted. As title sponsors of this popular road running event having a record field in the half marathon and one of the biggest ultra fields plus a host of top runners, makes for a great event and a worthwhile endeavour for us and the other race sponsors.”

The top four women finishers last year included three Russians. The first South African home was Farwa Mentoor.

Speaking to gsport, Mentoor said: “My training has been good, and injury-free, which is important. I hope to improve on my time. But I’m concentrating on Comrades as usual, so I don’t want to go full out for the Two Oceans.

“I hope I feel really well on the day. You can feel fit now and on the day you can get sick. I hope it’s a cool, cloudy day with no wind and no rain.”

Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon marketing manager Stefanie Schultzen: “This year’s event sees the introduction of the Old Mutual Two Oceans International Friendship Run, which we are extremely excited about. Runners from around the world can jog or walk 5 km with their family and friends.

“We want to make a fuss of them, make them feel special as they will share their positive experience of our city with others and are ambassadors for South Africa, something that is vitally important looking forward to 2010,” said Schultzen.

SABC 2 will once again televise the event live on Saturday 7 April, from 06h30–14h00.

For more on the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, log on to the Two Oceans Marathon Presented by Nike website.

For a wide variety of great tips for women runners, including nutrition, footcare, exercise during periods, sports bras and a host of other interesting articles, check out the Women’s Section of international website Time to Run, written by Cassandra Davis.