Defending Two Oceans winner withdraws

Cape Town - Defending Two Oceans Marathon women’s champion Maryna Damantsevich will unfortunately not be lining up at the start of this year’s race on Saturday, March 31.

The Belarusian, running in the colours of Nedbank Running Club International, last year finished the race with a 10-minute lead, despite a mishap at the start convincing her that she had fallen behind.

After the fall, Damantsevich set a blistering pace to catch up, thinking there are other women ahead of her.

She eventually crossed the finish line first in a time of 3:37:13.

Damantsevich’s coach, Anatoliy Bychkov, said his athlete unfortunately had to withdraw from this year’s event, as she needs to prepare for the European Marathon Championships as part of the national team.

There is a very good chance that the team from Belarus will be crowned European champions. As this is very important for the country, Damantsevich’s has no other choice but to take part in the marathon champs.

“The head coach said she will not be able to perform well at the European Championships after a 56km event,” said Bychkov.