Givemore Mudzinganyama and Andronica Mokgotla put in faultless performances at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon Peace Trail Run to take this prestigious title and go home with some of the highest prize money in South African trail running.
Mudzinganyama paced the 22km race to perfection and used his experience from placing second at the 2014 event to go one better this year. He slotted in behind Edwin Sesipi and Raydon Balie for most of the race before putting down the hammer in the final kilometre to come home 19 seconds ahead of Sesipi in a time of 1:29:00. Thabang Madiba chased hard all the way and claimed third position in a time of 1:30:50.
In the ladies race, Makgotla took charge from the get-go and led from start to finish. Katya Soggot and Meg Mackenzie chased hard throughout but a wrong turn meant they cut out approximately one kilometre from the overall distance. This shortcut meant they crossed the finish line first and second, but after both these runners were penalised by 10 minutes they moved down to second and third as Makgotla took first place in a time of 1:54:36. Soggot was relegated to second position with a time of 1:56:02 while Mackenzie slotted in at third with a time of 1:56:58.
In the 11km course, Riaan Wildskut just missed out on the record set in 2014, coming home in 46:32 while Hayley Preen smashed the ladies record by just over seven minutes with a time of 54:38.
Exciting as the racing was at the front of the field, for the majority of the almost 800 runners, the event was all about the views and joy of running and there was plenty of that. Cape Town put its best foot forward and we were treated to a cloudless, windless summer day. Certainly a celebration of sorts for trail running!
Click here for the 22km results and here for the 11km results.
Photos are available here.