The powerful duo of Nedbank running club athletes Gerda Steyn and Irvette Van Zyl on Sunday will both go into the Xiamen Sienna Tuscany Elite Camp Marathon in Italy with different goals. For Steyn who has already qualified for the Olympics, the goal is running a new PB and potentially South African Marathon record whilst Van Zyl looks to punch her ticket to the Olympic Games by running under 2:29:30.
While both athletes were set to participate in the now postponed NN Mission Hamburg Marathon this weekend, luck was on their side as they managed to get an entry into this special marathon that has been set up with the assistance of World Athletics with the aim of getting as many non-Olympic qualifiers the opportunity to qualify by running either sub 2:11:30 for the men, or sub 2:29:30 for the ladies.
For Van Zyl though, the road leading to Italy has not been an easy one, with issues regarding the awarding of a visa. South African citizens living in South Africa are currently the World’s most restricted travelers due to the current Covid19 pandemic situation. “I literally got my visa this morning,” said Van Zyl at the OR Tambo International airport as she waited for her flight. “It was touch and go but I am just glad that everything has worked out and I can actually mentally prepare and focus just on the race now.”
This will be the 3rd Olympics that Van Zyl is hoping to attend and is looking to make amends to the previous two which resulted in a DNF in London 2012 and an unfortunate injury in Rio 2016 which resulted in not starting. Both Van Zyl and Steyn are coached by legend Nick Bester, a former Comrades Marathon winner who is also the National team manager of the Nedbank running club.
“Both Gerda and Irvette’s training went well, and they are looking for some good times,” said Bester. “Gerda just missed out on the South African Marathon record last year in London when the conditions were not great. I expect her to run a lot faster this time round so that is the goal and for Irvette, it’s to get under the Olympic qualifying time.”
With both speed and endurance in the legs of Van Zyl and Steyn, one would not want to bet against the duo achieving what they set out for. Besides narrowly missing the South African marathon record last year, Steyn made history when she became the first women in history to run the Comrades Marathon up run in under 6 hours. Van Zyl herself last raced a marathon back in 2019, scoring herself a third consecutive victory in the tough Soweto Marathon before the Covid19 pandemic struck and cancelled races all around the World.
The Nedbank Running Club in Zimbabwe also got 2 male athletes in the field and great performances are also expecting from them. Isaac Mpofu and Ngonidzashe Ncube will both try to run personal bests for the marathon.
The Nedbank running club wishes these 4 athletes all the best for Sunday.