Category: News

Jamaica’s legendary athlete, Usain Bolt, might just be the inspiration Akani Simbine needs to break ten seconds for the 100 metres.

Ever since the South African Championships in Pretoria last year where the Tuks/hpc sprinter finished second in a time of 10.02s, the question has not been whether Simbine is good enough to dip under 10 seconds for the 100 metres but rather when he will do so.

Simbine has already shown that he is in good form this season by running wind assisted times of 10.04s and 10.06s and a legal time of 10.09s, but he still seems to need that little ‘bolt of lightning’ to super charge his batteries to enable him to break 10 seconds.

Maybe this will happen on 26 May in Ostrava when Simbine will get his first chance of two to face Bolt in the 100 metres. He will do so again on 13 June at the Diamond League Meeting in New-York.
Simbine has only raced against Bolt once before. It was during the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last year in the 4×100 relays. As was expected the Jamaicans won the gold medal in a time of 37.58s with Simbine and his South African teammates finishing fourth in a time of 38.35s.
Nobody will blame Simbine if the prospect of facing up to Bolt on his own for the first time is making him nervous, but this is not the case. He is actually looking forward to it.

“Usain certainly brings something special to the track each time he races. He just has a way of getting a whole stadium involved in a race. He creates a very special vibe which motivates everybody. I hope to benefit from it and also run a fast time.”

Somewhat surprisingly Bolt is not Simbine’s sprint hero. He has more admiration for Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell (both Jamaican sprinters).

“Don’t get me wrong. I have much admiration for Usain Bolt’s sprinting achievements, but I am better able to associate with Blake because he trains harder than Bolt and he has set himself the goal to beat Bolt. He has already managed to do so and I know he will do so again in the foreseeable future.

“Powell, a former 100 m world record holder, used to be my hero when I started out as a sprinter. I consider him to be the athlete with the best sprinting form.”

But perhaps Simbine will not have to wait until May to break 10 seconds for the 100 metres. He will be competing at the South African Senior Championships at Stellenbosch on Friday and Saturday.
The unpredictability of the Cape weather makes Simbine hesitant to make bold predictions about fast times. However, if the weather plays along he might consider making a serious effort to challenge the stopwatch already during Friday’s semi-finals.

Simon Magakwe, six-time national champion and the only South African sprinter yet who has been able to run a time faster than 10 seconds, will not be competing. He has been slapped with a two-year ban for missing an out-of-competition dope test last year.

However, Magakwe’s absence does not mean that Simbine is taking anything for granted.
“I have learned the hard way that no race is ever won until you have crossed the finish line. There are other good sprinters who will be competing and who are able to win.”

Simbine reiterated that for now he is not obsessed with 10 seconds.

I am still young, which means that I still have time on my hands to reach this goal. I know that if I continue to put in the long hard hours of training and run the right races it will be only a matter of time before I start running times faster than 10 seconds. In the end it all boils down to biding my time and not becoming obsessed. Patience is definitely a virtue,” the 21-year-old said wisely.

Simon Magakwe, the only South African to run 100m under 10 seconds, has been banned for two years after refusing to submit an out-of-competition test, ASA President Aleck Skhosana confirmed yesterday.

After doping officials approached the athlete in December 2014, he refused to give them a urine sample. That is considered a doping violation according to anti-doping regulations.

In the beginning of the year, a tribunal was held and Magakwe was suspended for two years by the IAAF. Magakwe also missed the appeal period so the IAAF's decision is now binding. More info to follow.

With 45 days to go to the 90th Ultimate Human Race, the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) has reminded runners who were unable to enter the 2015 race during the official entry period (1 September – 30 November 2014) to try and secure their place on the Start line through the Substitution process.

The 2015 Comrades Marathon Substitution process opened on 1 April and closes on 21 April 2015. The rule allows for a runner who has not entered to substitute for an entrant who has withdrawn; or intends to withdraw from the 2015 Comrades Marathon.

Substitutions can only take effect on a like for like basis, meaning South African runners can only substitute for SA entrants, Rest of Africa (ROA) athletes for other ROA entrants and International runners for International entrants.

Athletes are encouraged to make use of the online Substitution application feature at www.comrades.com Here runners can access the downloadable forms and view the comprehensive list of rules and regulations which govern the Substitution process.

All complete applications must reach the CMA office by 21 April 2015. There will be no extension of this deadline.

Race Director Rowyn James says, ‘The Substitution process has been going very well with many applications coming through. We remind our runners that there is just one week left before the process closes.’

James adds, ‘With more than 22-thousand runners entered for the 2015 Comrades, it is going to be an amazing 90th Ultimate Human Race on Sunday, 31 May 2015. Be part of it!’
 

Runner prematurely celebrates win, gets passed at finish line

KwaZulu-Natal Athletics, in association with Comrades Marathon Association, have today announced that they have finalised all disciplinary hearings related to the 2012 & 2013 Comrades Marathons.

Twenty people, including five international participants, were charged with offences related to rule 240.1 – not completing the full official course. Recognition was given to the fact that alleged transgressors were given the opportunity to present their cases before the KZN Athletics Disciplinary Enquiry last month.

Some of the alleged transgressors provided ample evidence that they did not and had had no intention of cheating and were cleared. Six participants proved beyond reasonable doubt that the alledged 'cheating' was as a result of the organizer's error. The runners had bailed out and waited for the official bailers bus which picked them up but, instead of taking them off the course, dropped them on the course inside the fenced area which forced them to walk accross the finish line. They had refused to take the medals at the finish and notified officials. Their names were, however, never removed form the results and this created the suspicion of cheating

A number of transgressors immediately pleaded guilty and avoided the hearing, while others did not respond at all nor did they make themselves available for the hearing. The disciplinary enquiry recommended that all those who pleaded quilty, together with those who failed to respond or present themselves for the hearing, should be disqualified and their names be removed from the respective events results. One particular runner appeared in both 2012 and 2013 disciplinary hearings on the same offence.

They were further ordered to return the medals, and those who failed to do so by the end of April 2015 will not be allowed to run this year’s event, which takes place on 31 May 2015.

KZN Athletics further announced that the non-eligibility of Zola Budd, as well as two other runners who did not contest the referees decision to receive the veteran’s prize for the 2014 Comrades Marathon due to transgression of the ASA age category rule, had been upheld. This matter has now been closed and all parties recognize that the ASA age category rule remains in force and neither KZN Athletics nor Comrades Marathon Association has authority to repeal, change or relax it in anyway without the express permission of ASA.

KZN Athletics president Sello Mokoena said that both organisations were happy that the matters could now be put to bed. “This has been an arduous and time-consuming disciplinary process, as participants need to be given the benefit of a doubt, as well as the opportunity to present their case, but we are confident that we have completed the exercise having followed all required processes,” he said. “We are committed to protecting the integrity of the Comrades Marathon and continually improving upon the high standards of South Africa’s most prestigious race.”

The 2014 Comrades Marathon disciplinary hearing takes place on April 18.

Due to popular demand the race organizers of the Sun City Ultra Triathlon have kept pre entries open until the 16th of April. “Our race office has been inundated by emails and phone calls post ironman from athletes wanting to enter depending on how their legs recover” says race director Damian Bradley. ” We have therefore decided to keep the pre-entries open for another week. Pre entries will now be open until 5pm on the 16th of April. Thereafter late entries will be allowed if there is space available.

Sun City's first Ultra Triathlon looks to be taking Gauteng by storm. Organisers , B-Active Sports have increased the allowed field to 1200 athletes, across the two distances. This field will make it Gauteng's biggest triathlon and the 3rd biggest Triathlon in South Africa. Athletes will be treated to one of the most beautiful running routes in Africa, with a 2 lap 21km running course around the Gary Player and Lost City Golf courses. Athletes will also be treated to free entrance to the Valley of the waves as well as some exclusive Race merchandise and apparel. There will be loads for the family to do while Mom or Dad competes, so get to Sun city on the 10th of May and show your support for the athletes sweating it out to the finish line.

TO ENTER.

With less than two months to go to the 90th Comrades Marathon, the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) launched its 2015 Amabeadibeadi Charity Drive in Sandton, Johannesburg on Friday, 10 April 2015.

The initiative is aimed at fostering wider support for charitable fundraising for the CMA’s six official charities; namely The Community Chest, PinkDrive, Sports Trust, Starfish Greathearts Foundation, Wildlands Conservation Trust and World Vision South Africa.

A significant aspect of the 2015 Amabeadibeadi Charity initiative is the Toyota Win-a-Car Competition, where a brand new Toyota Corolla Quest will be up for grabs on Comrades Race Day, 31 May 2015. This is a meaningful contribution to the greater good from South Africa’s largest automotive manufacturer.

The ‘Toyota Win-a-Car Competition’ has been a driving force for Amabeadibeadi fundraising and sees thousands of rand channeled into the charitable fund every year. Runners and the greater public can enter the Win-a-Car competition by sms’ing “TOYOTA” to 34068 at a cost of R1.50 per sms.

Another exciting part of the 2015 campaign is the continuation of the Race4Charity initiative. Via this development, runners have the opportunity to “secure” their spot closer to the front of the Comrades start line and improve their seeding batch, while raising funds for a good cause. Comrades runners have raised over 1,2 million rand to date, with 445 runners signed up. So far, the current top donor is Carel Nolte who has raised more than 40-thousand rand.

Race4Charity gives individuals the opportunity to not just make a difference, but to get people involved and race collectively for the benefit of charities. Runners can go to the Comrades website www.comrades.com and follow the Race4Charity link. Runners can sign up and choose which of the six Amabeadibeadi charities they would like to support.

CMA Vice Chairperson and Head of the CMA’s Charities Sub-committee, Cheryl Winn says, “The Amabeadibeadi Charity Drive has been a defining part of the CMA since 2000. It is the aim of the CMA to give to the needy and less fortunate in a meaningful way and the Amabeadibeadi charity drive does just that. We are grateful for the hard work done by the various charities that benefit from Amabeadibeadi.”

Toyota Senior Sponsorship Manager, Delia Jackson says, ‘It is important for us to be involved in this race as Durban is a key base for our company and a significant part of our dealer network. We hope that our contribution to both the Comrades Marathon and Amabeadibeadi Charity drive will continue to make a difference in the lives of those charities they support.’

CMA General Manager, Chris Fisher says, ‘The Amabeadibeadi Charity Drive is in line with the indomitable Comrades spirit and gives back to the people of South Africa via the amazing work of our charities. We urge our runners to sign up and run for charity in order to effect a greater positive change in our country.’

(Words: Sarah Hearn)

Autumn: waiting on the platform in the dust of a departing Summer, anxiously peering down the tracks for the scheduled train of Winter. Bikini on body, beanie in hand. The Merrell Autumn Trail Night Series embraces this period of transition by easing us through the change from sweaty hot sports to shivering cold ones with good humoured races through the vineyards in the moonlight shadow of Table Mountain.

In its third year at Groot Constantia Wine Estate, the first of three in the series had a remarkable turnout on Wednesday night. Each race demands a different route and runners now get to enjoy some single forested track and dam walls through neighbouring Klein Constantia. A few were shocked at the new course, but only because they didn’t apply listening skills during the “don’t touch the fence” briefing. Although general consensus was that there is nothing klein about some of those short hills, it was enthusiastically agreed that this was the best designed trail so far.

The 5,5km and 8km trails take athletes on a loop marked with reflective tags that direct them back to Simon’s Restaurant where scrumptious burgers are devoured. Aquelle bottled water is given out to runners at the finishing table, flowing naturally into free wine tastings offered by Groot Constantia.

Black Diamond powers this and all Mountain Runner evening events. They are on hand to provide that essential item required to run around in the dark at prices significantly lighter than normal. Although who are we to put asunder some of those special race relationships forged by several footsteps sharing one lightbeam?

Once again Merrell gave their full support to this event, living out their ethos: Achieve. Never Settle. Hit the Trail. OUT. PERFORM. and encouraging all participants to do the same.

It all happens again on the 15th and 22nd April. Full details on www.mountainrunner.co.za Race results and Mark Sampson’s photos capturing grimaces and grins on Mountain Runner Events facebook page.

An Achilles heel injury will prevent Cornel Fredericks from defending his 400-hurdles title next week at the South African Athletics Championships in Stellenbosch.

Because of the seriousness of his injury Fredericks will not be able to do any running on the track for the next 4-6 weeks and he was forced to cancel his international campaign. Depending on his rehabilitation the earliest he will be able to race again could be middle June, maybe even later.

In spite of his setback Fredericks is confident that his season will not be a total write-off. He still hopes to be able to represent South Africa at the World Championships in Beijing.

Fredericks, a High Performance Centre (hpc) athlete, won the South African title four times during the past five years (2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014).

Fredericks make no secret about his disappointed at not being able to defend his title.
“It will be the first time since 2005 that I will not compete at a national championship. It is one of only a few opportunities that I get to race in front of my own people and it is therefore very special.”

According to Fredericks he had been battling Achilles problems for the past two years.
“Last year it was my left Achilles that gave me problems but, because there was not really anything I could do about it except some stretches and going for physiotherapy, I continued to compete. At the end of my season I took a complete break from running for five weeks.

“This season my injury woes continued when my right Achilles started to become painful. At one stage it was so bad that even when I walked a few steps after waking up, I was in pain. A scan showed that there are little tears in my Achilles.

“The injuries proved to me that I am, after all, just human and that I should listen to my body and not try to run through the pain.

Fredericks is full of praise for the support he is receiving from the hpc, the South African Sports Confederation, the Olympic Committee (Sascoc), as well as from Wayne Coleman who is helping him with his rehabilitation.

Apart from his injuries, Fredericks is also not sure who his going to be his coach. There is a strong possibility that he will be coached by one of England’s top coaches but nothing has been finalized yet.

Last year Fredericks became the first South African athlete to win gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, the African Athletics Championships, as well as at the Continental Cup meeting in the same year.

Another highlight for Fredericks was finishing as the third-best 400-hurdles athlete in the IAAF Diamond League, which was in itself a great achievement.

Fredericks is also proud of the fact that he was able to run times faster than 49 seconds in seven of his 15 races last year.

Caroline Wöstmann’s victory in the Two Oceans ultra-race has led to many experts predicting that a South African female athlete could also win the Comrades.

Lindsey Parry, who coaches Wöstmann as well as Charné Bosman (who finished 5th) is confident that it is just a matter of time before one of the South African female athletes wins the Comrades.
“On Saturday Caroline had one of those dream days which most athletes experience only a few times during their careers. I really think that if she could run the way she ran on Saturday, she could won the Comrades as well.

“What we need to do now is make sure that she recovers fully. Then she needs a couple of weeks of hard training before we start to refresh her for the Comrades. Hopefully she will have similar form at the Comrades.

“This is what we will be aiming for. However, we fully realize that it won’t be easy to win the Two Oceans and the Comrades in the same year. Only a handful of athletes have been able to do so,” said Parry, who works as a sports scientist and coach at the High Performance Centre (hpc).
Parry describes Wöstmann as a late developer.

“In 2010 her personal best time in the 10km was about 56 minutes and for 21km it was 1 hour and 50 minutes. At the beginning of last year her best marathon time was just over 3 hours, but by the end of the year it has improved to 2 hours and 43 minutes in quite windy conditions.

“She would possibly have run a much faster marathon time if she had started earlier and just focussed on the marathon. Caroline is one of those athletes who just get stronger and stronger. It is also a result of the extremely consistent training she has been doing.”
Parry is also impressed by Maxwell’s ultra-race debut.

“At one time during the Two Oceans I thought Tanith was going to win but unfortunately for her she just ran out of road.

“Charné also had a good race, sticking exactly to the race plan we had agreed on beforehand. She is certainly on track to run a good Comrades.”

Bosman (hpc/Nedbank) said one of the reasons why all three of them performed well at the Two Oceans is that Parry is a very dedicated coach who realizes that there is no blueprint for success.
“He goes out of his way to find out what will work and what will not work for each of us and only then he begins to formalize a race plan.

“One of the big differences in Lindsey’s coaching strategy is that he does not believe that we should go out hard day after day. In my training program there are only two hard days, the rest of the sessions are long runs. But when Lindsey says it is hard day, it is hard day. You have to give it your all.”