{"id":16451,"date":"2025-12-01T07:11:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T05:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/kenyas-jepchumba-ends-sas-van-zyls-reign-at-soweto-marathon\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:31:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:31:36","slug":"kenyas-jepchumba-ends-sas-van-zyls-reign-at-soweto-marathon","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/kenyas-jepchumba-ends-sas-van-zyls-reign-at-soweto-marathon\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya\u2019s Jepchumba ends SA\u2019s Van Zyl\u2019s reign at Soweto Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kenya\u2019s Margret Jepchumba stormed to victory in the women\u2019s race at this year\u2019s Soweto Marathon, finishing in 2:34:33 and taking home the $14 000 prize.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Her win brings an end to South Africa\u2019s (SA) Irvette van Zyl dominance, who had claimed four titles in six appearances at the People\u2019s Race.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nedbank Running Club Manager Nick Bester said the strategy had been carefully built around Jepchumba\u2019s strengths. \u201cOur focus was on the women\u2019s marathon,\u201d Bester explained. \u201cI was on the course making sure the runners got enough nutrition. In previous races, this has been overlooked, and they\u2019ve run out of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bester noted that after monitoring Jepchumba\u2019s performances in three City to City races, he knew she was in peak condition. The plan paid off; Onalenna Khonkhobe, considered the favourite, finished third, confirming that the women\u2019s race was the team\u2019s biggest opportunity for success.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14784,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-16451","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Kenya\u2019s Jepchumba ends SA\u2019s Van Zyl\u2019s reign at Soweto Marathon","published_date":"2025-12-01 09:07:05","news_description":"Kenya\u2019s Jepchumba ends SA\u2019s Van Zyl\u2019s reign at Soweto Marathon","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20252,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16451\/revisions\/20252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=16451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}