Gerda Steyn exemplifies the heart and soul of road running in SA

16 Jun 2024

The star athlete’s ever-present beaming smile, authenticity and consistent, record-breaking ultra-marathon times have made her the darling of South African road races.

Gerda Steyn is an outstanding runner. She rammed that point home with her third Comrades Marathon victory on Sunday, 9 June.

She also broke the best time for the up run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, finishing in 5:49:46, although the route was 2km shorter than usual.

Steyn, who runs with the Phantane Athletics Club in Durban, became the first woman to complete the up-run route in under six hours in 2019 when she finished in 5:58:53. She also has the best time for the down run, which goes in the opposite direction, set last year in a time of 5:44:54.

Steyn’s supreme domination of the Ultimate Human Race is unprecedented.

And although her searing ultra-marathon efforts are what drew attention to her initially, it’s her personality that has led to a nation’s adoration.

Most athletes at the head of the pack smile and wave at cheering fans when they reach the climax of a race. But Steyn ran nearly every kilometre of this year’s 85.9km route with a wide smile on her face and a wave in acknowledgement every time she heard her name.

“I can’t put into words how it feels to have your name heard from the first kilometre to the very last step of the route,” Steyn told Daily Maverick.

“I feel like I have been showered with support and encouragement, and I can’t imagine doing this without that kind of support.

“Every cheer gives me the motivation to keep pushing and serves as a reminder that I am not doing this for my own good, but for everyone who supports me.”

Steyn’s beaming smile while running – presented with warmth and accepted by everyone – has become a trademark feature of the 34-year-old athlete.

“It is such a massive motivation to have the support en route, so I try to give back a little bit of that energy by acknowledging it and smiling back,” she explained.

Similarly, the support for her seemingly increases race after race as those cheering her name are guaranteed that smile. There was no louder cheer at the Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg than when the now three-time champion raced through the arches and earned the winner’s medal with both arms aloft.

An unconventional journey

It’s almost unfathomable to think that one of the country’s best-ever runners had a late start to the game.

Steyn only started running in 2014 as a social runner in an attempt to make friends after moving to Dubai for work. At the time, she worked as a quantity surveyor.

In fact, she didn’t excel at running while at school and failed to make the cross-country team at Bothaville High School in the Free State, despite the school having fewer than 300 pupils.

But her natural talent for the longer distances shone through quickly once she took them on. She finished her first 42km race, the Dubai Marathon, at the end of 2014 in 3 hours and 11 minutes – a brilliant time for a novice runner.

The next year she entered her first Comrades Marathon and finished in 56th place with a time of 8:19:08.

Steyn continued running the Comrades Marathon and improving her performance. She finished 14th in 2016 and then fourth in 2017. Then she came second in 2018 and followed it up with her first, record-breaking win in 2019.

“I feel like it is important to keep setting higher targets for yourself in the pursuit of finding out what your very best potential is,” she said about her motivation to keep returning incredible times year after year.

“Without targets I would go stale, and so I love coming back and setting these targets in Comrades because I am also passionate about the race and the upliftment it brings to everyone watching.”

Steyn also credits the race for igniting her passion for running.

“The Comrades Marathon is such a unique event and experience. For me, it’s about the way it brings us all together – the camaraderie and the way it tests the human spirit,” she said.

“It is also where I found my love for running and the reason I wanted to pursue this journey of being a professional athlete.”

Hectic schedule

This year marks a decade since Steyn started running and it has been filled with what quickly became her favourite activity.

With just over half the year gone, she has completed three ultra-marathons already. She has also broken the records in all three of them.

In March, Steyn ran in the Om Die Dam Marathon in Hartbeespoort in North West. She completed the 50km race in 3:16:16, breaking the legendary Frith van der Merwe’s 30-year record in the process. She also, astonishingly, finished in 10th place overall.

A month later she broke her own Two Oceans Marathon record in Cape Town, setting a time of 3:26:54. It was her fifth consecutive Two Oceans Marathon win.

No woman had won more than four before her and the two runners who had done that did not do it consecutively.

Steyn’s feats this year are beyond impressive. She’s done in one year what many runners dream of completing in a lifetime.

But there have been some concerns about her workload, given that she will also be competing at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. She will run alongside compatriots Irvette van Zyl and Cian Oldknow in Paris on 10 August. Neither of them did the Comrades Marathon.

Steyn finished 15th at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Though she isn’t a favourite to win the marathon in Paris, she has decreased the national record for the standard marathon since Tokyo.

The Comrades Marathon is known for being brutal on the body, especially the up run, because of its steep climbs and uphills. Athletes participating at the Olympics often forego running the Comrades in an Olympic year to save their body for the “big” race.

But Steyn isn’t like most athletes. She’s a late bloomer who loves running.

Regardless of her placing at the Olympic Games, South Africans will be behind the athlete whose running prowess caught their attention but whose warm heart and broad smile has held their admiration. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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An unconventional journey

Hectic schedule