Cape Town Marathon

Stephen Mokoka once again showed why he is South Africa’s premier marathoner as he claimed a third win in the Cape Town Marathon on Sunday. Photo: Supplied

Cape Town Marathon recap: ALL the winners!

Stephen Mokoka once again showed why he is South Africa’s premier marathoner as he claimed a third win in the Cape Town Marathon on Sunday.

Cape Town Marathon

Stephen Mokoka once again showed why he is South Africa’s premier marathoner as he claimed a third win in the Cape Town Marathon on Sunday. Photo: Supplied

Defending champion Stephen Mokoka once again showed why he is South Africa’s premier marathoner as he claimed a third win in the Cape Town Marathon on Sunday.

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The Olympian and multiple SA champion broke the tape in 2:09:58, three seconds faster than his winning 2:10:01 last year, and the fourth-fastest winning time in the race’s history.

Second position went to Ethiopian Derseh Kindie Kassie in 2:11:26, with his countryman Dagnachew Adere Maru outsprinting Kenya’s Raymond Kipchumba Choge to take third place, 2:11:52 to 2:11:55

In the women’s race, Meseret Dinke Meleka of Ethiopia took line honours in 2:24:02, smashing the 2:25:44 record (run in 2021 by Lydia Simiyu), and also breaking her personal best of 2:25:12.

Second over the line was Kenyan Tecla Kirongo in 2:27:56 – also setting a new PB (her previous best was 2:28:22) – with another Kenyan, Judith Cherono, taking third in 2:30:32.

The first South African to finish was Stella Marais, clocking 2:38:34 to claim eighth position.

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Meseret Dinke Meleka. Photo: Supplied

The event featured an elite wheelchair race for the first time, with the athletes setting off 15 minutes before the elite field and adding great excitement to the spirit of the day.

The men’s race was dominated by American Aaron Pike.

After initially breaking away from the rest of the pack with South Africa’s Ernst van Dyk, the American pulled clear to win in 1:40:15, just under four minutes clear of his great friend and rival, who came home in 1:44:02.

Third place went to Mexico’s Martin Velasco Soria in 1:46:43.

Aaron Pike. Photo: Supplied

The women’s wheelchair race came down to a thrilling sprint finish, with Brazil’s Vanessa Cristina De Souza having to dig deep to win in 1:57:48, just one second ahead of Noemi Alphonse of Mauritius (1:57:49). Third place was claimed by British veteran Shelly Woods in 2:16:32.

Vanessa Cristina De Souza beats Noemi Alphonse to the line. Photo: Supplied

The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon was the main event in a jam-packed weekend of running action.

Saturday saw the running of the’46km Sanlam Cape Town Trail Marathon and 22km Trail Run, as well as the 5km and 10km Cape Town Peace Runs.

That was followed by the marathon on Sunday, with the main event attracting over 12 000 entries and the combined weekend’s events seeing some 25 000 athletes being part of the action.

The event offered a substantial prize-purse totalling R1 751 500, with the men’s and women’s winners each taking home R250 000 each, with R125 000 for second place and R60 000 for third.

There was also a R100,000 bonus incentive on offer for a new record.

The prize money for the wheelchair races saw the first man and woman earn themselves R50 000 each, while second and third took home R25 000 and R12 500 respectively.