The 52nd Buffalo Marathon recorded a sound 846 entries, which were boosted by 819 in the half marathon and close to 800 in the SAPS 10km, all run concurrently in East London on Sunday.
Results were mixed, with a good sub-2-hour-20 in the men’s marathon, a mid-60-minute win in the men’s half marathon, a mid-80-minute win for the top three women in the half and a 30+ minute win in the men’s 10km.
The running weather was largely ideal, with cool conditions thanks to a light breeze.
The men’s marathon was won by Sonwabi Tshezi of Wild Coast Athletic Club in 2:19:33, which is a first sub-2:20 in quite a few years and a target for male runners at many great marathons, regardless of the terrain.
Tshezi ran the Great Kei Marathon in 2025 and finished second to Yanga Malusi by a big margin of 6:16.
The Kei Marathon is a tough 42.2km; Buffs is challenging but runnable for anyone with marathon experience. He went out hard and stayed there.
At the time check, Tshezi went through in 85:53 comfortably ahead of his chasing rivals, the closest of whom was Nkululeko Lekhoehla in 86:58.
There was to be no catching Tshezi as he raced to the finish in Buffalo Park Drive for a win of 6:16.
In third place was Musa Zweni, a regular marathon warrior in this neck of the woods, and while he may not have hit his goal of a new personal best, he ran a sound 2:26:53 and was followed by Stjhaba Koloti in 2:28:49 and local man Stanley Masuku in 2:29:49. Masuku also had a great race at Surfers last weekend.
The women’s marathon was somewhat more pedestrian time-wise, though all gave of their best. Putunz Macingwana won in 3:22:50, ahead of Angelique Norton in 3:25:11, Carmen Schaefer in 3:30:48, Sekela Ndlamla in 2:35:52 and Carey Sheffield-Webb, visiting her old stomping grounds, in 3:39:31.
The half marathon produced an exciting race in the women’s event, set up by an early breakout by Kaitlyn Donovan, who went through an early checkpoint in 21:21, followed by the “sister act” of Caryn Lategan in 21:21 and Lauren Ranger in 21:43.
That would change with Donovan increasing the gap in the first section of the event.
The “sisters” set about hunting, and Lategan caught Donovan and a small group of men, past Merryfield and down into Dorchester Heights. From there on the races took on a new dimension, and Lategan knew that.
She broke away, and by the time she reached the summit of Willasdale Drive, her intention to win had all but been sewn up.
Meanwhile, Ranger had more work to do and systematically set about it, chasing up Galway Road and finally the ascent to the Buffalo Club.
Lategan won in 84:47, Ranger was second in 87:59, and Donovan was third in 88:29.
The men’s race was originally a two-man race with a pack further back chasing, but Border’s top marathon man opened the taps and won in 66:32, with veteran runner Xolisile Sinkintana coming through to take second place in 70:00.
Results had not been certified at the time of writing and will be picked up in respect of the age groups in the week.
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