'We want that podium to be painted purple' - Steyn becomes a purple star
In their quest to dominate 2025 road running season, the Hollywood Athletics Club landed a big fish by recruiting Olympian and multiple Comrades Marathon and Totalsports Two Oceans champion and record holder Gerda Steyn. Steyn was officially unveiled as the newest member of the fastest growing commercial running club in South Africa this afternoon (Wednesday 15 January) at the Hollywoodbets Greyville Racecourse in Durban. Speaking to media at the colourful announcement where the likes of Eben Etzebeth and Akona Ndungane were present, the nation's greatest ultra distance athlete of all time expressed excitement to be part of Hollywood family.
"It's such an honour to join the purple team. I have been keeping it as a secret for the past few weeks and to finally reveal it today is good. It's going to be an exciting year ahead. At the same time, I'm hoping to elevate the team while encouraging more social runners to join the club. I've got so many reasons why I joined the club but the passion they have for the sport is the main reason I came here," said a smiling Steyn.
For the last two years, the 34-year-old Steyn has been running in the colours of the KwaZulu-Natal based elite development club, Phantane Athletics Club which was founded in 2013 by renowned coach Mdu Khumalo. Her time there was fruitful as in 2023 Two Oceans she set a new 3:26:54 course record over 56km at Two Oceans. The two-time Olympian continued her form at the Comrades Marathon, setting a remarkable Down Run record of 5:44:54.
She further ended that year brightly with a scintillating 2:24:03 at the Valencia Marathon in Spain which was stood as the national marathon record until Glenrose Xaba shattered it with sizzling 2:22:22 performance in last year's Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. Last year she managed to successfully defend her Two Oceans and Comrades crowns, both in new recrod times. Steyn joins the likes of Comrades and Two Oceans gold medalist Carla Molinaro, Two Oceans gold medalists Irvette van Zyl and Loveness Madziva to add incredible depth to a strong women's ultra marathon team.
Today's announcement then makes 2025 the third consecutive year that the Durban-based club secures the signature of a top Olympian runner. In 2023, they signed multiple Olympian and four-time Africanbank Soweto Marathon winner Irvette Van Zyl, then last year multiple national champion and four-time Olympian Stephen Mokoka followed suit. Hollywood Athletics Club president Morgan Shandu believes that the addition of Steyn will be a huge boost to the club's ambitions.
"The team that we had is still around. All we expect from all of them as a team is to get podiums. We've been very humble about Two Oceans and Comrades. But this year we are a bit bullish. No pressure. But this year we wanna be there in that top three. We want that podium to be painted purple."
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