South Africa’s David Gatebe and Natalia Volgina got the better of gale force winds to provide the upset wins at the 44th Two Oceans ulta-marathon in Cape Town on Saturday.
Gatebe, the 2008 SA marathon champion, ran his own race from 21km but only took the lead from 32km at the top of Chapman’s peak.
“I knew I could win at 34km. I was in the lead and had trained specifically for the run out of Hout Bay and up Constantia,” said the 31-year-old recreational officer from Impala Marathon Club in Rustenburg who extended his 35-second lead to one minute 54 seconds on the steep Constantia nek ascent.
Kenyan Henry Kipsan was his sole challenge on the climb, but it was the group of 11 runners who provided the chase once over the Nek.
Lesotho runners dominated the chase but Gatebe was well clear and running strongly through to UCT where he took the tape in 3:08:54.
“With 9km to go I worked out that I needed to run 3:15 per kilometre, and I knew from my training I could do that,” said Getebe who looked as though he had only finished the half marathon.
“My planning started after my third place in City to City and now I’m going to concentrate on Comrades.” – MG
