Irvette van Zyl targets Two Oceans glory and boosted R380 000 prize money

Irvette van Zyl has always been one to spot the silver lining on every dark cloud. It is not surprising, then, that she has long gotten over her DNF (did not finish) at last year’s Totalsports Two Oceans Ultra Marathon and is raring to go again next month.

Three times a runner-up at the “World’s Most Beautiful Marathon”, the Olympian has extra motivation to run the race of her life in the form of increased prize money.

The organisers have increased the total prize purse, with the winning man and woman set to swell their bank balances by R380 000 instead of the R250 000 that Khuarahlane Seuloali and Gerda Steyn earned for their victories last year.

“I’m glad they’ve increased it," Van Zyl said.

"The Two Oceans is such a big part of South African running that with more prize money it’s just going to build the overall profile of the race, resulting in more interest and having more ladies running it. It’s always good when they push up the prize money because Two Oceans is such a hard route and you want to be rewarded.”

She has, however, conquered that hard route on three occasions — finishing second behind Steyn in all of those. That she did not finish last year was not because of the route’s toughness, but rather because she fell ill on the eve of the race.

The source of the virus that saw her pulling out of the race before the marathon mark?

Her beloved two children, whom she had taken along to the Mother City.

“Last year, my Two Oceans didn’t end up the way I wanted it to. This year, I’ll be leaving the kids at home — just to make sure there are no last-minute bugs to derail my race plans,” Van Zyl reveals, cracking into her famous giggle.

“I had a talk with them and they understand. So this time, I’m going into the race a bit more confident that I’ll be healthy and ready to race a bit better than last year.”

She is already deep into her training for the world-famous 56km ultra and all is going well. Her victory at the hilly Balwin Run Series Pretoria in 2:49:05, plus the 33:57 she clocked at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY GQEBERHA 10K for ninth place, are indicative of that.

“So far, so good. This shows that my preparation towards Two Oceans is going well. At least this time I think I had my mishaps a little earlier in the year, so hopefully it’s just smooth running from now on,” she said, hinting at one or two niggles she had earlier this season.

“I’m just glad to be back. I’m feeling better. I’m excited about that.”

She will be even more excited if she crosses that finish line ahead of her Hollywood Athletics Club teammates on race day, April 11.