Twin brothers win the 2015 Knysna Forest Marathon events
The Momentum Cape Times Knysna Forest Marathon and Half Marathon have been won by twin brothers and Tsepang and Tshepo Ramonene.
Tsepang won the 42 km in 2 hours 25 minutes 28 seconds and Tshepo won the 21 km in 1 hour 6 minutes 6 seconds.
Speaking after the race, Tsepang said he was very happy to win because last year he came second.
“I trained very hard to win this year.” He says his best ever marathon time was recorded in Durban on 1 March 2015 as 2 hours 16 minutes 35 seconds.
For Tshepo (24) this is a new personal best. His previous best time for 21 km is 1 hour 6 minutes 56 seconds.
He said that he found the race very easy, although the downhills were a challenge. He hoped to improve his time next year.
Second man over the line in the 42 km was Eric Sigxashe in 2 hours 34 minutes 55 seconds, followed by George Ntshilizo in 2 hours 37 minutes 41 seconds.
First woman home in the full marathon was Candice-Lee Davison in 3 hours 23 minutes 5 seconds, followed by Ursula Edwine Frans in 3 hours 23 minutes 27 seconds and Helen Squirrell in 3 hours 23 minutes 36 seconds.
In the 21 km Etienne Plaatjies was second with a time of 1 hour 7 minutes 6 seconds and Michael Bailey came third in 1 hour 12 minutes 24 seconds.
First woman over the line in the half marathon was Rene Kalmer in 1 hour 19 minutes 9 seconds, followed by Andrea Steyn in 1 hour 23 minutes 44 seconds, and Charne Bosman in 1 hour 24 minutes 23 seconds.
Eight and a half thousand runners lined up in the Knysna Forest on Saturday morning in perfect conditions for the Momentum Cape Times Knysna Forest Marathon, the 31st event since the first one in 1984.The cool forest morning turned into a warm day with a gentle berg wind and protective cloud cover for most of the race.
Of the 1,100 runners who registered for the full marathon, only 615 finished the race.
Race Director Leon Brown said that the 42 km is “very challenging but it’s also probably one of the most beautiful marathons in the world. It takes the runners deep into sections of pristine Knysna forest.”
The forest marathon is the biggest sporting event of the popular annual Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival. For many runners it’s a bucket list race and entries sell out fast. It is known for its scenic routes, the unique early start in the forest and the great vibe at the finish at the Festival grounds.
One of the race traditions, which is to collect warm clothing discarded by runners in the forest after the start, has recently been formalised by the naming sponsor Momentum, who Brown says has added huge value to the race.
Momentum now distributes 2,000 beautiful blankets to the first runners to arrive at the start and when they discard these, they are collected by the local Youth for Christ group and transported into Knysna where they are sorted and folded and then distributed to local impoverished communities.