Irvette van Zyl (Nedbank)’s ‘dream year’ still continues.  On Saturday she won the 21 km Two Oceans race in Cape Town for the first time.

Her victory time was 1 hour 13 minutes and 14 seconds, with Botswana’s Onneile Dintwe second in 1:17:15 and Namibia’s Alina Armas third in 1:18:05.

It seems as if Van Zyl, who trains at the HPC, simply can’t set a foot wrong this season. She started her season by running best times at altitude in the 10km (33 minutes and 32 seconds) as well as the 21km (1 hour 12 minutes and 20 seconds).  She is unbeaten so far this season, having also won 3 000m and 5 000m races on the track.

Van Zyl makes no secret about what she considers to be the secret to her success.
“Words can’t describe how happy I am today (Saturday) to have won my first Two Oceans half-marathon. I am truly blessed. Thanks to my great coach Lindsey Parry. He is certainly the best there is,” she tweeted on Saturday.

Parry, a head coach at Tuks/HPC, said he was ‘super stoked’ by Van Zyl’s performance.
“I am really impressed with Irvette’s performance. She just ran not worrying about what time she is going to run. The first time she checked her splits was at the 15 kilometre marker.”

Van Zyl’s next challenge will be the London Marathon on 24 April where she hopes to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio. Running a faster time than 2 hours and 45 minutes ought not to be a problem because Van Zyl’s best time, which she ran in London in 2013, is 2:31:26.

According to Parry Van Zyl’s other goal is to qualify in the 10 000 metres for the Games as well.  But she does not plan to do so at the South African Championships in Stellenbosch (15-16 April) because it will then be only a week before the London Marathon.  

“The plan is for Irvette to compete in the 5 000 metres at the national championships. Then, depending on her recovery after London, we will decide when and how she will attempt to also qualify in the 10 000 metres. 

“It does not necessarily mean that she will have to race internationally. We may be able to organize something locally. I don’t think we will get athletes to work with her for the first seven kilometres, but we might perhaps get someone to set the pace for three kilometres. Irvette is strong enough to then run on her own.”