International athletes stole the spotlight on Sunday morning’s Totalsports Two Oceans Half Marathon powered by BYD in Cape Town, with Kenya’s Felix Kibet Masai and Namibia’s Lavina Haitope producing dominant performances on a day when South African hopes were largely overshadowed.
While the ultra marathon titles on Saturday belonged to the darling of SA distance running, Gerda Steyn, and little-known Arthur Jantjies from Hopetown, the half marathon firmly belonged to the international elite. Kibet Masai delivered a ruthless front-running display to win the men’s race in 1:03:17 – the fastest winning time in the event since 2017 and just one second shy of the new course record.
The Kenyan, relatively unknown in local circles but fresh off a 10km personal best of 27:24 in France earlier this month, signaled his intent from the gun, settling into an early rhythm alongside compatriots Shadrack Ngumbau Musyoka and Joshua Mengich.
The trio went through 5km in a brisk 15:35 before reaching the halfway mark in 31:27, already stringing out the field. South Africa’s George Kusche attempted to respond, but the Kenyan trio crested Southern Cross Drive with a decisive buffer over the chasing pack.
From there, Masai only extended his advantage, breaking away in the closing stages to seal a commanding win, with Musyoka and Mengich completing a Kenyan clean sweep of the podium.
For Kusche, the race formed a key part of his build-up to the Comrades Marathon.
“I wanted to compete at the Two Oceans, so the options were obviously 56 or 21km. I decided against doing the 56 as it’s a bit close to Comrades and it would have hurt me,” Kusche said.
“I had fun running. My plan was to hurt everyone on the first hill, make it a dogfight, and I think I did hurt everyone except the top three. But it was a good experience, and it’s always good to run against world-class athletes.”
In the women’s race, Haitope was equally dominant, running unchallenged to victory in 1:14:36 to secure the biggest road win of her career.
The Nedbank Running Club athlete, who won the 2025 Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon in Gqeberha earlier this year, finished almost two minutes clear of 2022 champion Fortunate Chidzivo (1:16:29) and more than three minutes ahead of 2023 winner Emma Pallant-Browne from the UK (1:18:09).
Haitope used her experience on the challenging Cape Town course to perfection, managing the early pace before decisively pushing clear when the tempo lagged.
“It was tough, very hilly,” she said.
“I’m happy with my time. I decided to go early because the pace was too slow. I just ran my own pace. They were going around 3.30 minutes per kilometer, which felt too slow for me, so I had to pick it up. I’m happy.”
Pallant-Browne revealed she didn’t have the ideal build-up to the “world’s most beautiful marathon”.
“I haven’t come in with the fittest base,” she said.
“I gave birth seven months ago, so I had two months off running, and then got injured this month so had to take two weeks off. Normally you can carry your fitness across, but I didn’t really have the base coming in.
“So, it was always going to be a bit of a slog. But I wanted to suffer out there, I wanted a good workout and I thought I’d make it hurt from the start and hang on as long as possible.”
“I love this race. I think it’s a really gritty race. You’ve got to be strong and you’re going to suffer on those hills. You never feel like you’re flying because it is so tough,” Pallant-Browne concluded.
