Irvette Van Zyl racing against the clock to recover in time for Two Oceans Marathon

A hamstring injury sidelined the 38-year-old four-time Olympian, forcing her to miss out on The People’s Race in November.

Van Zyl insists she is determined not to let this race slip by.

"I had a bit of a forced rest after the Olympics unfortunately. I had a hamstring that had been bothering me for a few months before Olympics and after the Olympics I found out I had actually torn my hamstring and that took quite a long time unfortunately,” Van Zyl said.

“It took from three months to five months to heal and yeah, a lot of interventions to try and heal the thing faster but unfortunately it was really stubborn so I started my preparations only in December but it was slow and I had to walk around and now at last, it's my second week of just running and so far it's going well.

“It's just that I'm a bit unfit. I really want to be good so I'm doing everything I can to be the best that I can be in about two and half months, so yeah, it's not a lot of time but it's a lot of time, if you have the extra muscle memory to just get fit and I'm positive about it because I'm really hungry to be better at Oceans than I have been in previous years."

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Van Zyl may not be as fit as she would have liked heading into the Two Oceans Marathon, but it's a race she is determined to win. Having secured a top finish twice she says she is committed to running it every year until she crosses the finish line first.

"I know going into each race I want to be my best and yeah, unfortunately just one Oceans, I've never had the race just go my way, it's been always a battle all going into Oceans or just doing the race, there was always something happening,” she added.

“So, I really want that one race where everything just clicks and I hope it will be at Oceans. It's one race I really have a big desire to win so we'll continue to do that until I win it."