Women’s race winner Olesya Nurgalieva, photos by Deon Gurling

Olesya Nurgalieva of Russia won the women’s race in 3:41:53, beating her twin sister, Elena. This was almost a repeat of the 2008 race, when Olesya won her first Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon. However, two years ago she clocked the second fastest time in the race’s history, winning in 3:34:53. Her sister Elena finished in second place, just 32 seconds behind her.

Breaking away from the group

Large groups of men huddled together for most of the route with various runners breaking away periodically. Mabhutile Lebopo from Lesotho eventually won the 56km race in 3:06:22. Five of the top ten finishers were from Lesotho, four were from Zimbabwe and the fastest South African, Sandile Ngunuza, came in tenth.

Cape Town Tourism sponsored one of the refreshment stations, those manning the table wore brightly coloured Cape Town branded T-shirts to encourage the competitors.

Cape Town residents and visitors came out to support the runners all along the route.

For more on the race, you can browse the following stories:

2010 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon – a photo essay
The world’s most beautiful marathon
A spectacular Cape Town day for the 2010 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon