SA champion Cian Oldknow gears up for the Cape Town marathon

Her marathon journey in 2024 began with victories in the Dis-Chem Half-Marathon, Johnson Crane Hire Marathon, and the national marathon.

Oldknow also achieved a 32nd-place finish at the Paris Olympic Games in August, making her the highest-placed South African runner at the event.

Earlier in the year, she qualified for the Olympics with a strong performance at the Seville Marathon.

"I'm feeling good, feeling strong, I'm doing Cape Town Marathon in three weeks time so preparing for that so I would say I'm in a healthy position at the moment. It's another race on home soil and I think doing the home races and the local races are really good. It's good for us as athletes and it's good for the community, I think,” Oldknow said.

“We are so quick to go overseas and do the international marathons because we can get fast times and stuff but I think we can get fast times here too and just take a little bit of pride in our local races and help support those."

Oldknow enters the Cape Town Marathon as the reigning South African champion and one of the top local contenders, though she's focused on not placing unnecessary pressure on herself.

"I am quite confident going to the race. I know Glenrose [Xaba] is doing her debut there and she has run some amazing times this year so I'm really excited to see what she can do on the marathon. I think it could be quite a good healthy competition but I think it will be a good experience," she added.

Despite only starting to compete in marathons this year, Oldknow has already achieved significant success.

However, she acknowledges that there's still much to learn from elite runners across the continent.