Road runners have an ideal opportunity to enjoy a recovery run after the Two Oceans Marathon or Half Marathon this past weekend, while remembering and celebrating one of the Two Oceans greats, at the annual UCT 10km Memorial Race, which takes place on Sunday 3 May.

One of the most popular short races on the WP Athletics Calendar, the UCT 10km Memorial Race, run on a testing but scenic course from the university campus, remembers and celebrates the lives and careers of three of the university’s leading distance runners, Merrilyn Smith, Isavel Roche Kelly and Lindsay Weight.

This year’s race profiles Weight, who finished in the top ten of the Two Oceans Marathon on six occasions, twice as runner-up, in addition to winning the Comrades Marathon on two occasions.

When Weight, who obtained a doctorate in medical science at the University of Cape Town, died at her Hout Bay home in September 2006, aged 44, her loss was felt deeply by the thousands whose lives she had touched.

Weight was admired and loved by many – students from her popular course in the Human Biology Department, those who had enjoyed her on-point television and radio commentary or pithy columns in running magazines, or simply those whom she offered a word of encouragement as she passed them along the way in a race.

She was always eager to share what she knew about running to the young members of the athletics club at UCT, and beyond.

Weight was a power-house at the UCT Athletics Club. She was just one of three members of the club to have won the Comrades Marathon and, like Isavel Roche-Kelly, she achieved that honour twice.

In her second victory in 1984, she became the first woman to break the seven-hour barrier for the down run (Roche-Kelly had done so on the up run in 1981), smashing that record by just over 18 minutes to win in a time of 6:46:35. In total, she won 11 Comrades medals, including six golds and five bronze medals.

Weight also boasted an impressive record in the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon, having completed 14 ‘Voyages’, ten of them in UCT colours. She finished in the top ten on six occasions, four times on the podium including two runners-up positions with a best time of 3:57:49.

She was a beloved academic, known for her care of her students in the Department of Human Biology, where she contributed to important changes in curriculum in the Faculty of Health Sciences in the early 2000s.

Weight enjoyed all forms of distance running and increasingly raced on trails later in her life. She completed the testing 70km Puffer Race between Cape Point and the Waterfront in 2006, shortly before she passed away.

The first woman home in the UCT Memorial Race will be awarded the coveted Merrilyn Smith trophy, which carries the names of many of South Africa’s leading distance athletes, and a bonus R1500 if her winning time is under 36 minutes. 

Elana Meyer holds the course record, having clocked a remarkable 32:38 for the challenging course in 1995, shortly after she broke the world half marathon record, while Australia-based Aynslee Minnaar, won the last UCT Memorial Race in 2024, two months after representing South Africa at the World Cross Country Championships.

The race forms part of the WPA road running league and runners are encouraged to enter early (https://racepass.com/za/races/uct-memorial-10km-race) as numbers are capped at 2000.  No late entries will be accepted.

The post Chance to remember former distance-running great, Lindsay Weight, in the annual UCT Memorial Race appeared first on Sports Network Africa.

Not since the heady days of Bruce Fordyce has a single athlete dominated South African ultra-running to the extent the Johannesburg athlete did in the 1980s, but Gerda Steyn is getting close.  Some would argue she is right up there now.

Fordyce’s set of nine victories at the Comrades Marathon is the platform on which he gave expression to his impressive ‘lang-asem’ skill set, but he also chalked up a number of other impressive victories, most notably a 100km road race against the world’s best ultra-distance athletes in Stellenbosch in 1989, the USA 50 mile championship and the London to Brighton 55 miler which he won on three occasions.

While Steyn has a way to go to emulate Fordyce’s nine victories at Comrades, she boasts a greater range of distance running ability, having set a national record for the standard marathon, a distance in which she represented South Africa at two Olympics Games. She has also achieved a spread of impressive results over shorter distances, including on trails.

But what sets her apart from Fordyce is her superb record at the Two Oceans Marathon. Fordyce only once raced the Oceans competitively, placing an impressive 4^th in 1983. Instead, he used the Oceans as an essential part of his Comrades training, running just under four hours for a silver medal most years.

While few would dispute Steyn’s mantle as ‘Queen of Comrades’ after her four resounding victories in that race and record-breaking feats since 2019, Steyn makes no secret of the fact that Two Oceans is a favourite race for her.   

After feeling her way cautiously through to 14^th place in 4:15:44 in her first Oceans in 2016, Steyn has knocked it out of sight. She won her second attempt, clocking a relatively modest 3:39:32 in 2018, before her 3:31:28 win the following year suggested it would not be a question of if but when she would break Frith van der Merwe’s 30-year-old record.

COVID only delayed the inevitable and she smashed the record over three successive years, taking it from 3:29:45 in 2022 to 3:26:54 in 2024, before chalking up another win last year for good measure.

She is strongly favoured to chalk up her seventh as she lines up at the 2026 Totalsports Two Oceans 56km powered by BYD this weekend.

“I know I have done it before and so I believe that I can do it again,” said Hollywood AC’s top runner at a media launch at a city hotel this week. “But I don’t ever allow myself to be too comfortable just because I have won it six times. I know that I have to put in 110% of my effort because every single athlete is going to be focused on winning this race.”

Steyn concedes she will have to be at her very best to win The World’s Most Beautiful Marathon for a seventh time.

“I must respect the quality of the field. My guess is that it won’t be a one woman show. We’ve got such amazing runners this year and I can only control how I run – and make sure that I run my very, very best.

“If everyone else around me is suffering and I’m suffering too, then I will perform the best in that situation. I know it’s going to be a big challenge. But it means so much to me, so I’ll give everything I can to achieve that goal.”

Does Steyn have it in her to improve her superb 2024 Two Oceans race and take the mark closer to 3:20 than 3:30, to a time which would have been good enough to have won most of the initial six Two Oceans Marathons overall?

The Pretoria, Dubai and French Alps-based athlete has always been humble in assessing her talents and generous and gracious when referencing her that of her rivals.  But she is also honest and spoke openly about her prospects of earning yet another record-breaking cash bonanza from the title sponsor.

“To talk about the record before you’ve broken the record was always nerve-wracking,” Steyn admitted. “(It’s a bit easier) once you’ve broken it and you’re looking to improve it a bit more, but I still feel nervous talking about it!

“It really comes down to what you’ve done in preparation. I can say that my preparation has gone really well. I’ve trained longer and at higher altitude than ever before. And I’ve come down to sea level a little earlier to ensure I recover better.

“Everything about my training has gone well. So I hope that I can follow the same routine I’ve set out in training during the race. Of course, there’s a lot I can’t control but what I can say is that I’m going to give my very best on race day.”

Steyn was not wrong in respecting the quality of the field, with several athletes ready to pounce at the sign of any weakness or vulnerability from Steyn.

History will judge her Hollywood teammate, Irvette van Zyl, as deeply unfortunate to have hit her ultra-marathon peak in the Gerda era. At any other time, Van Zyl would have had her name engraved on the trophy on several occasions and been regarded as one of the all-time Two Oceans greats. To be fair, she still should be.

Van Zyl ended her Two Oceans Half Marathon rein with two wins and a tally of six gold medals out of eight starts. Of her three successful attempts at the Ultra (2019, 2022 and 2024), she has placed second to Steyn on each occasion, twice finishing inside Frith van der Merwe’s former ‘impossible’ record. She could be forgiven for wishing Steyn would crash out of the race on a Chappies cats-eye… just once!

Van Zyl will again be competitive and favoured for a podium position, but the 41 year old Kenyan, Shelmith Muriuki, has been making ultra-marathon waves in South Africa in recent years. She became the first black female athlete to podium at the Comrades Marathon, finishing third last year, while taking the race to Steyn in last year’s Two Oceans.

Muriuki was right in contention to halfway before losing contact as she fumbled for her drink at a refreshment station. “Next time you won’t get away that easily” joked the Kenyan to Steyn at the prize-giving and she will be fired up to contend even more strongly this time around.

Lesotho’s Neheng Khatala is one of Southern Africa’s most consistent marathoners and is well-placed to bag her second Two Oceans podium, after finishing third last year while a number of other athletes, including SA-based UK athlete, Carla Molinaro, Kenyan Margaret Jepchumba and local runner, Deanne Laubscher, add quality and depth to the field.

While the women’s competition could prove the race highlight, with none of their male counterparts looking up to challenging legendary Thompson Magawana’s 38-year record of 3:03:44, a lead group of more than thirty can be expected to head the race through the half marathon mark at Fish Hoek and twenty through halfway at the start of Chappies.

Defending champion from the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho, Joseph Khoarahlane Seutloali, is quietly confident about retaining his title, although some of his rivals were bolder in their predictions at the media event.

While Seutloali kept his cards close to his chest, 2024 winner, Onalenna Khonkhobe, stated he is ready to right the wrongs of 2025 when he did not finish the race and is prepared to challenge the clock if needed.

“This is my show,” he declared when asked about the possibility of the men delivering the race’s first sub 3:09 clocking since ultra marathon legend Bongumusa Mthembu ran 3:08:39 to win in 2019.

Southern Cape athlete, Lloyd Bosman, is determined to prove his second place in 2024, when he came within an ace of victory, was no fluke, while former Cape Town athlete, Sithembiso Mqhhele, has gone from strength to strength since his move north and proved his current form by finishing second in the Peninsula Marathon in February.

The race gets underway from Newlands Main Road at 05h15 on Saturday 11 April, with the first runners expected across the line at the UCT Green Mile shortly after 08h15.

The post Gerda set for seven at the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon, powered by BYD appeared first on Sports Network Africa.

Mike Phillips is embarking on his next chapter in the MPBL.

The 6-foot-8 Filipino-American bruiser from De La Salle University has officially signed with San Juan-Go for Gold for the 2026 season.

Spin.ph’s Snow Badua first reported the development and confirmed to Tiebreaker Times by San Juan management.

With Phillips on board, he will reunite with former UAAP rivals from the University of the Philippines—Harold Alarcon, Gerry Abadiano, Reyland Torres, and Terrence Fortea. Joining the Knights is also former Far Eastern University forward Patrick Sleat.

(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team

Last season, San Juan was eliminated in the North Division semifinals by Pangasinan, prompting a team rebuild.

In the preseason tournament, the Knights went 7-1 in the group stages, defeated Caloocan in the playoffs, but fell to eventual champion Abra in the semifinals.

Now, with Phillips anchoring the paint, the Knights add a UAAP Season 88 Finals MVP and multiple-time Elite Team member to their roster.

This move also allows Phillips to stay close to home as he vies for a spot with Gilas Pilipinas Men in the upcoming windows of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers and the Asian Games.

The MPBL continues to showcase a wave of rising stars fresh out of the UAAP.

Caloocan boasts Kean Baclaan, Dom Escobar, and Kymani Ladi, Pasay fields the National University quartet of Steve Nash Enriquez, Jolo Manansala, Mark Parks, and Gelo Santiago, Quezon features Ced Manzano, John Abate, and Cholo Anonuevo, while Zamboanga highlights Janjan Felicilda and Josh Lazaro.

The post Mike Phillips reinforces Maroon 4 in San Juan appeared first on Tiebreaker Times.