By Riël Hauman
A record field of of more than 20,000 runners, including the men’s and women’s defending champions in the 56 km ultramarathon and over 1000 international runners, will line up in Cape Town on Easter Saturday, April 3, for the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon and Half-Marathon.
The ultramarathon will be run for the 41st time and the half-marathon for the 13th time. The mail 56 km event is South Africa's second-most important ultramarathon after the Comrades.
Cape Town’s biggest road running event has attracted a field of 8700 runners in the ultramarathon, making this the second biggest field in the history of the race. The record stands at just under 10,000 (9766) runners, which was in 2004 when the traditional route over Chapman’s Peak was reopened for the first time in four years. More than a third (35%) of the ultramarathon field are novices who are running the event for the first time, an indication that the sport is growing and still attracting participants to the longer distances.
The half-marathon has attracted a field of 11,571 runners, which makes it the biggest half-marathon in the country. Last year 13,221 runners took part, but race organisers decided to reduce this number for 2010 in the interests of runner safety, both out on the route and at the finish.
Both 2009 champions in the longer race, John Maina Wachira (KEN) and Elena Nurgalieva (RUS), will defend their titles. Among Wachira’s strongest challengers will be Zimbabweans Marko Mambo, Stephen Muzhingi and Moses Njodzi.
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