THIS REALLY IS 'THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL MARATHON'! 

The Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon takes place in Cape Town every year over the Easter weekend. I participated in April 2017 and this was my first ultra marathon. The registration opened on the first day of September 2016 and I registered that morning. Entries are available on a first come first serve basis for the ultra and fun runs and via a ballot for the half marathon. The caps are 11000 runners for the ultra and 16000 for the half.

Two Oceans Marathon requires runners to have a qualifying race. You need to run a standard marathon (42.2km) in under 5 hours. It is run from gun to mat so your timing begins when the gun goes off and not when you cross the start mat. Your time in your qualifying race therefore needs to be a faster time for you to be in a start pen closer to the start - If you run a 4:59 marathon you would be in start pen further back, but if you run a 3:59 marathon then you would be in a start pen closer to the start. I used my Rock 'n' Roll Lisbon marathon time as my qualifying race since it was my pb and the first time I broke four hours, so this got me into start pen C at Two Oceans. 

The cut-off time for the ultra is 7 hours and there are stage cut-offs at the 28km and 42.2km points. The slowest pace that you need to run at to finish within the 7 hour cut-off is 7:15min/km.

The half and ultra take place on Easter Saturday and the trail runs, fun runs, kids races and international friendship run take place on Good Friday.

The expo ran from Wednesday to Saturday at the CT International Convention Centre and was extremely well organised. I arrived at 9am and bib collection was straight forward as there was a separate queue for international runners. Then I bought some official merchandise which was Adidas branded. I walked around the expo visiting most of the stands which looked interesting and also listened to a couple of talks about the race which were very informative. 

We stayed in Century City which was about a 20 minute drive from Newlands where the race started and the same distance from the University of CT where the race finished. We arrived at the start area around 4:30 and I went into the runners only area around 5:30. I handed my bag to volunteers in front of the specified DHL truck and it would be taken to the finish area. I entered my start pen and found place to sit and wait while chatting to other runners. The half marathon started first at 6:00 and the ultra started at 6:40. The atmosphere at the start was incredible as was the spectator support. They play the national anthem and Shosholoza (an old South African mining song) and then the start gun goes. The temperature at that time of the morning was about 13 celcius. 

The first 25km of the race is quite flat and goes down Main Road to the ocean at Muizenberg (18km), the HM mark at Fish Hoek, then immediately heads through Kommetjie to Sun Valley. This is a residential area and the spectator support since the start is fantastic. Then you head to Noordhoek which is the first cut-off (28km). I got to this point at around 9:30/10 and the temperature was already around 18/19 celcius. The refreshement stations so far were extremely well stocked with sachets of water. This year the organisers implemented throw stations along the course for runners to dump their water sachets, used gels etc. If you were seen intentionally throwing rubbish anywhere else you would be disqualified. I think race organisers in the UK/Europe should learn from this. 

The recon that I did before and during training told me to hold back for the first half of the race. That was good advice because if you go out too fast you will struggle in the second half of the race. This race does not allow runners to use any type of earphones/headphones which was excellent because you get to be in the race and enjoy the course support, stunning views and atmosphere on the day. 

From Noordhoek you start the first climb up Little Chappies and then the big climb up to Chapmans Peak while enjoying the stunning ocean views up to the 39km mark. Then there is a descent into Hout Bay and the second cut-off at 42.2km. The refreshment station there had cups of Coke which went down a treat as it was quite hot when I got there around 11:30.

Then it was on to the biggest climb of the course - 43-48km up to the top of Constantia Nek. You will have to walk most of it but when you get to the top the spectator support is fantastic. 

The last 10km is through Kirstenbosch and Cecilia Forest and thankfully there was some shade along the rest of the route. The spectator support at the finish line on the UCT rugby field was incredible and crossing the finish of my first ultra marathon was the best feeling of any race that I did. The medals you are given is based on the time in which you finish - Gold, Silver, Sainsbury [named after the original race director who passed away the previous year], Bronze and Blue. I finished in 5:56 so just made the 6 hours cut-off to get a bronze medal. 

There were refreshments (water, energade, coke) at the finish and collecting my bag took less than 5 minutes. Then I went to the meeting area to meet my family.

This is an incredible race which all runners should add to their to do lists. The organisation, support, atmosphere in an amazing city are outstanding.