A Brief History of the Forever Resorts Loskop Ultra Marathon

“An emotional race” was how one of the journalists described the 2004 Columbus 3M Loskop Marathon, and this it certainly was.

Local hero and winner of the 2004 Columbus 3M Loskop Marathon was Graham Malinga, running in the colours of Harmony, who finished a mere 42 seconds off the record set by Simon Peu in 2003 (2:44:45), to finish in a time of 2:45:27. Malinga used the victory to pay tribute to his best friend and training partner, Josiah Bembe, who committed suicide in February 2004, despite being one of South Africa’s most promising marathon runners.

The day, however, belonged to the winner of the ladies race, Paulina Phaho. Paulina shattered Yolande Maclean’s record set in 2003 (3:21:00) by over three minutes to finish in a time of 3:17:31. Paulina is a Correctional Services officer at Tshwane’s C-Max Prison and single mother, who planned to invest the money for her four-year-old son. Yolande Maclean finished second in a time of 3:19:43 taking just over a minute off her 2003 record time.

Having retained its ranking as South Africa’s third favourite ultra marathon, it was no surprise that over 3 800 athletes elected to run the Loskop Marathon. Whilst the Middelburg Marathon Club bid a sad farewell to its co-anchor sponsors, Columbus Stainless and 3M South Africa – it will mark the start of a new era for this event.