Hollywood Athletics Club athletes dominate across South Africa

On Sunday, two big events lit up the athletics calendar. In an extremely windy Cape Town, the Balwin Properties Half Marathon and Marathon which also incorporated the South African Marathon Championships saw some of the country’s best athletes looking for glory in the Cape Peninsula.

Hollywood Athletics Club’s Lindelani Mjwara finished fifth in the marathon championship race in 2:24:01, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal podium finish. Known as the Purple Jaguar, this race was a good performance by the youngster who has his sights set on this year’s Two Oceans and Comrades Marathons. Teammate Makhosazana Mhlongo grabbed a podium spot to finish third in the South African Marathon Championships section finishing in 3:06:31.

In the half marathon, Hollywood’s speed sensation Tayla Kavanagh was a runaway victor clocking 1:20:37. “Today’s race was really tough as we ran into a headwind the entire way, but I did the best that I could in the conditions,” said Kavanagh. In what was her first race of the year, Kavanagh has now made it three wins out of three over the half marathon distance. As a former South African champion over the 10km distance, could the half marathon be the sweet spot? “I am really enjoying the half marathon distance, but I am still learning with each race so the focus this year will be focusing on both the half marathon and the 10km distances and I hope to see improvement during the year and build on each one I do.”

Up in Johannesburg, the very popular Pirates Half Marathon, billed as Joburg’s toughest Half Marathon, took place over a very hilly course and Hollywood Athletics Club certainly painted the streets purple with podium domination. Up front, teammates Tshepo Ramashamole and Joseph Seutloali who are both in training for Two Oceans dropped the rest of the field in the final stages to go 1-2 and cement themselves as favorites for the 56km in April.

Hollywood Athletics Club elite team manager Manfred Seidler was very upbeat by the performances. “It has honestly been a really great start to the season and the way our athletes ran today on this tough course shows that things are looking good for a big performance when they go to Two Oceans,” said Seidler. “Looking back to January at the Biogen Half Marathon and how Tshepo ran today, the improvement has been incredible, and I can see how focused he is.”

In the women’s race, Two Oceans and Comrades record breaker Gerda Steyn showed on the hills why she smashed last year’s up run record with a dominating victory over teammate Rutendo Nyahora. Stopping the clock at 1:18:20, missing the course record (set by Team Mate, Irvette van Zyl in 2024) by a narrow 20seconds, Nyahora was welcomed across the line by Steyn finishing in 1:24:36.

“What a fun way to spend a Sunday morning on the hills of Joburg’s toughest half marathon with thousands of others just because we love it,” said Steyn. Having been training in Dullstroom where she is basing herself in prep for Two Oceans, Steyn is looking in great form and we can expect another great Two Oceans duel upfront which also includes teammate Irvette van Zyl who holds the second fastest ever performance over the iconic 56km route.