Gerda Steyn, seen here during the Absa Run Your City race in Joburg, broke her national marathon record in Valencia at the weekend. Picture: Felix Dlanga
Versatile long-distance runner Gerda Steyn closed out a memorable 2023 season by shattering her own South African marathon record at the Valencia Marathon in Spain on Sunday.
Competing against a strong line-up, which was packed with depth, Steyn took 11th position in the women’s race in 2:24:03.
The 33-year-old athlete chopped more than a minute off the national 42km mark of 2:25:28 she set in Siena in 2021. In the process, she also achieved the qualifying standard (2:26:50) for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.
It was the third major road running record broken by Steyn this year, after she bettered her own mark by clocking 3:29:06 at the Two Oceans 56km race in Cape Town in April and shattered Frith van der Merwe’s ‘down run’ record by clocking 5:44:54 at the 87km Comrades Marathon in Durban in June.
Meanwhile, though she struggled in the second half, Irvette van Zyl also produced a solid performance at the weekend.
Just four weeks after winning the Soweto Marathon on home soil, 36-year-old Van Zyl finished 39th in Valencia in 2:27:29. She was 78 seconds outside her personal best (2:26:11).
In the men’s race, Adam Lipschitz was 56th in 2:13:01 on his marathon debut.
Up front, Worknesh Degefa won the women’s contest in 2:15:51, while fellow Ethiopian Sisay Lemma took the men’s race in 2:01:48.
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