Gerda Steyn wins a seventh Two Oceans; Arthur Jantjies takes the men's race on debut
Steyn ran 3:27:43 for the 56 km in Cape Town, nearly six minutes clear, and Jantjies won in 3:09:25 after taking the lead near 50 km.
Photograph: Gerda Steyn at the 2026 Marathon des Alpes, by Johann Conus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsGerda Steyn won the Two Oceans ultra in Cape Town on Saturday for the seventh time. She ran 3:27:43 for the 56 km, passed the marathon mark in 2:34:33 and 50 km in 3:06:05, and finished 5:48 ahead of Kenya's Margaret Jepchumba, 3:33:31. Nobuhle Nobukhosi Tshuma of Zimbabwe was third in 3:38:34. Steyn, 36, has won every edition since 2018; the 2020 and 2021 races were cancelled. Her own course record of 3:26:54, set in 2024, survived.
The men's race went to Arthur Jantjies in 3:09:25, in his first ultra. Jantjies, from Hopetown in the Northern Cape, had run the Two Oceans half twice. He took the lead near 50 km and held off Onalenna Khonkhobe, the 2024 winner, by 35 seconds. Blessing Waison of Zimbabwe was third in 3:11:13, after leading at 20 km and 28 km, with Dennis Kipkosgei and Tumelo Moja next. Defending champion Khoarahlane Seutloali stopped at 50 km.
The course climbs Chapman's Peak Drive and Constantia Nek in the second half, about 700 m of gain, and finishes at the University of Cape Town. Some 14,000 runners entered the ultra and about 30,000 ran over the weekend.
Seven wins on one course is a record of patience as much as speed. Steyn did not need the fastest time she has ever run there. She needed the one that beat everyone else, again.
Sources: iRunFar; Daily Maverick; TimesLIVE.
