The Two Oceans Marathon is a 56 kilometre race held annually in South Africas coastal city of Cape Town and attracts a strong field of top athletes from across the world, with participants choosing from various distances in the event the scenic 56 km ultra marathon, the equally popular 21km half marathon or the 5 km or 2.5km fun runs.
Without giving names, the events marketing manager, Stephanie Schultzen, this week told The Zimbabwean that in total 112 Zimbabwean athletes, both male and female, had submitted their applications by close of registration on January 31.
This years event is slated for April 23 2011 and carries rich rewards, after the prize money was increased by 47 per cent.
We had 112 entries from Zimbabwean-born runners, some of who are now based in South Africa, but I cannot reveal their names at this stage, said Schultzen. Although Schultzen would not reveal any names, The Zimbabwean has it on good authority that three-time winner, Marko Mambo and veteran female athlete, Samukeliso Moyo, will not be part of the running contingent this year, for yet to be known reasons.
Of the total number, 45 are female runners and most of the Zimbabwean contingent registered for the half-marathon, while few chose the ultra and the long trail run. Also among the usual suspects also missing from this years list are Stephen Muzhingi, Mike Fokoroni, three-time champion Marko Mambo, Samukeliso Moyo and Sharon Tavengwa. Three Zimbabwean runners Honest Mutsakani (2001), Moses Munjodzi (2006) and Mambo (2004, 2005 and 2008) have won the 56 km event, while no Zimbabwean woman has ever won the 56 km event.
Mambo participated again last year, but ended outside the top 10, in a male event whose top three prizes were dominated by Lesotho runners and had four Zimbabwean male runners in the top 10 Muzhingi (4), Mike Fokoroni (6), Moses Njodzi (7) and Nkosiyazi Sibanda (8) in the mens top 10 race, while Samukeliso Moyo, who came out fifth, was the only Zimbabwean female in the top 10.
This years prize money will see the winner of the male and female events taking home R125 000 and R65 000 respectively, while the second and third place male and female runners will each receive R125 000 and R65 000 respectively, with the total prize money on offer for the event being just under R1.5 million. In last years event, first prize winners received R150 000, second place R75 000 and third R50 000.
Post published in: Zimbabwe Sports News