It’s 06:00 am and it’s very cold outside as a blanket of mist sweeps over the sleepy town of Dullstroom. Stepping onto Main Road, dressed in the green of Nedbank and lacing up his Nike trainers, Matshailwe gets ready for yet another day of hard training. His training partners Tete Dijane and Edward Mothibi aren’t with him this morning, the pair having competed at the Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km where Dijana set a new 50km world record. 

Youngster and teammate Ruben Mosiane stands alongside him, the two fresh off a 1-2 finish at the Klerksdorp Marathon which saw Mosiane outsprint Mashailwe on the line to win his maiden marathon. “Ruben is a new addition to our squad and will also be running Two Oceans but the half marathon,” says Dave Adams, the coaching wizard behind the success of a record-breaking Comrades which saw all 6 of his Nedbank running club athletes achieve a gold medal and finish 1-2-3 in the men’s race. 

“We were confident that Tete and Edward could run really fast at the Nedbank race and give them a chance to be fresh for Comrades so sitting down with Dan, we decided that Two Oceans will be his main event for 2023.” With a 2:14:06 marathon best which was run in Cape Town back in 2021, Matshailwe will be one of the fastest men in the field and with the City of Cape Town already being kind to Matshailwe, one hopes the same will happen on Saturday. 

Coach Adams believes that Matshailwe has done the hard work and just as he predicted how hos runners would do ahead of last year’s Comrades, believes Dan will be very hard gto beat. “The training has gone very well for Dan, and he will be very hard to beat on the day,” says Adams. “There is no doubt that on race day, Dan will be out to win Two Oceans.”

With the gap between Two Oceans and Comrades a lot shorter, Matshailwe will still contend this year’s Comrades, but will not be aiming for victory. “After Two Oceans Dan will have a break of just over a week and then he will resume training with the rest of our squad,” said Adams. “Although Two Oceans will likely affect his Comrades result, we have a lot of gold medalists in our camp, and we can afford to drop a few positions.” Coach Adams still believes though that his athlete will still finish high up. “Despite this, Dan will still be aiming for a top 5 finish.”

Nedbank running club national team manager and former Comrades winner Nick Bester is excited for this weekends event. “As always Two Oceans is a big event on our calendar and as the Nedbank running club, we have a strong team assembled and ready to run,” said Bester. “We are excited to see how Dan runs because the whole set up he has with Coach Adams is without a doubt the most professional set up in the country and the results that his athletes have achieved of evident of this.” 
A small but quality Nedbank running club team will descend on Cape Town, looking to excel. “This year we decided to focus on a few athletes who have the potential to win, and we feel that it will make the racing upfront exciting,” says Bester. 

In the men’s race, joining Matshailwe will be South African’s Jonas Makhele and Lloyd Bosman as well as Ethiopian Sintayehu Yinesu who has already emerged victorious 4 times in the tough Soweto Marathon. In the women’s race, last year’s podium finisher in 3rd Amelework Fikadu Bosho returns and will be accompanied by her fellow countrywomen Tinibeb Ali, Yeshiembet Nguse and Aberu Debele. South Africa’s Adele Broodryk who like Mashailwe finished as first novice finisher and 3rd on the podium in last year’s Comrades, will head up the South African lady’s contingent in the colors of Nedbank running club.