Gerda Steyn, the favourite for the Two Oceans Marathon, will be difficult to beat once more at the 2026 Two Oceans Marathon. Picture: Tobias Ginsberg
Image: Tobias Ginsberg
As the Two Oceans Marathon draws ever closer, it’s difficult to imagine any of Gerda Steyn’s competitors winning the title ahead of her.
Steyn, who turned 36 earlier this month, has shown no signs of slowing down as she is once again the favourite to win the 56km event on April 11 in Cape Town.
In fact, there’s every reason to believe she will win her seventh title in a row.
Over the last five weeks, Steyn has turned out at some of the toughest races in Gauteng.
In Joburg’s ‘Toughest Half Marathon’ at the Pirates 21km in mid-February, Steyn had to settle for second place in 80 minutes and 14 seconds (80:24) behind Lesotho’s Neheng Khatala (79:33).
“Can’t win ‘em all. It was such a great morning at Joburg’s Toughest 21km race,” said Steyn at the time.
Since then, though, Steyn returned to winning ways at the Sunrise Monster 32km race in Pretoria as she completed the gruelling course in 2:06:56, which works out to a pace of 3:58 per km, which is similar to her goal speed for Two Oceans.
In fact, Steyn beat out runner-up Puleng Khumalo by 16 minutes 27 seconds at that race.
The prize money for 2026 has been increased by R130,000 to R380,000 for first place in the respective men’s and women’s races in the 56km event.
Since the Comrades Marathon is the pinnacle of ultramarathon running in South Africa, it offers significantly more money for the winners.
In 2025, Steyn collected a first-place prize of R874,000, while she also earned R550,000 for the best average pace in the women’s race, R220,000 as the first SA athlete home, and a handy R50,000 for reaching the Cell C Hot Spot first in the latter stages of the run.
If you add all that up, it totals a whopping R1 644,000.