'Steynless' performance at Two Oceans reiterates Gerda's reign

Gerda Steyn remained nonchalantly calm, that famous smile of hers telling the story of an athlete unfazed — even as yet another 'adversary' threw jabs her way.

Steyn had just obliterated the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon field, running the third-fastest time — 3:29:20 — ever recorded by a woman in the world-renowned 56km ultra, to claim her sixth consecutive title. All three of the fastest times on the course now belong to her. Yet the woman seated to her right at the post-race press conference at UCT Rugby Fields was describing the queen of the Two Oceans as "lucky".

Shelmet Muriuki, who finished runner-up on Saturday morning — a distant eight minutes and 40 seconds behind Steyn — echoed the sentiments of her Entsika Athletic Club teammate, Nobuhle Tshuma, who had thrown a veiled jab at Steyn during the pre-race media conference.

Tshuma had boldly declared, “It is not all about Gerda,” and hinted she could challenge the golden girl of ultra-running. She ultimately placed sixth — 22 minutes adrift of the champion. Muriuki, the 2023 City to City 50km winner, followed suit, daring to suggest that Steyn only beat her due to a mishap at a water point.

“I thought I would catch Gerda, but there was just a minor hiccup when I went to fetch water and, unfortunately, she pulled away,” Muriuki said. She also admitted she hadn’t known much about the South African star.

“I didn’t know Gerda. I know her (Saturday). I’d heard of her and knew she was good, but I failed to challenge her,” she conceded, before turning to Steyn’s Hollywood Athletics Club with a remark: “And you are lucky. You are very lucky you disappeared — otherwise you would not have won.”

Could have; would have; should have.

The reality is that Muriuki never stood a chance. Steyn ran a completely different race to previous years, going out hard and fast from the start.

Steyn simply chuckled at the post-race barbs — fully aware that talk is cheap, and that it's performance on race day that counts. And performance is exactly what she delivers — year after year — at the world’s most beautiful marathon. Perhaps it’s time it earned a new nickname: The Gerda Steyn Run.

“In training, I knew I was in good shape. I saw the improvements, I felt strong, and I focused a lot on the hills,” Steyn said.

“So, I knew I had it in me. I wanted to try something different today. My strategy was to go out fast and make everyone pay tax — and I think it worked.”

That much is clear, given her dominant winning margin, which far exceeded those from the past three years — even when she broke the course record.

She didn’t set a new personal best this time, but she had no complaints.

“Of course, it was a risk not to go for the record. But coming here as a five-time winner, I always worry that the competition might get used to my race strategy. So, I decided to switch it up — and it worked beautifully.

“To come away with the win is more than I could have hoped for. It means no less to me than when I broke the record. I’m very, very pleased with how it all turned out — and I’m going home a very happy girl.”

As the saying goes: the winner celebrates, and the loser looks for excuses — as Muriuki did.