South Africa’s Gerda Steyn raises her arms as she crosses the finish line, winning the women’s section of the Two Oceans ultra-marathon, on 31 March 2018, in Cape Town. – This is the 49th edition of the race, which is over 56km, and comes close to both the Indian and Atlantic oceans, hence it’s name. (Photo: AFP/Rodger Bosch
Ultra-marathon star Gerda Steyn to tackle not-as-daunting 5 000m in Potchefstroom
Star South African long-distance athlete Gerda Steyn will tackle the not-as-daunting 5 000m at an event in Potchefstroom on Tuesday.
South Africa’s Gerda Steyn raises her arms as she crosses the finish line, winning the women’s section of the Two Oceans ultra-marathon, on 31 March 2018, in Cape Town. – This is the 49th edition of the race, which is over 56km, and comes close to both the Indian and Atlantic oceans, hence it’s name. (Photo: AFP/Rodger Bosch
Star South African long-distance athlete Gerda Steyn will tackle the not-as-daunting 5 000m at an event in Potchefstroom on Tuesday night.
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Steyn has been SA’s leading marathon and ultra-marathon runner in recent years.
Her first major career victory came at the 2018 Two Oceans Marathon when she crossed the line at the UCT fields in a time of 3:39:32.
Steyn then defending her Two Oceans Marathon title in 2019 in a time of 3:31:28 which was only 52 seconds slower than the existing record set by Frith van der Merwe back in 1989.
Steyn completed the ‘SA double’ later in 2019 when she won the Comrades Marathon ‘Up’ run in a new record time of 5:58:53, becoming the first woman to complete the run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg in under the magical six hour mark.
Earlier this year, Steyn recorded her best time for the marathon when she finished seventh in London in 2:26:51.
Writing on her Twitter page on Tuesday, Steyn said: See you tonight Potch! Looking fwd to racing 5000m on the track! 2020 is definitely the time to do things differently!! Hopefully I won’t look this confused and remember to go the other way round!!
