Category: News

The streets of Illovo, Melrose and Birdhaven will once again come to life with the 12th annual J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Challenge® taking place at the Wanderers Club on Thursday, March 26.

A highlight on the Johannesburg calendar, 13,000 runners, joggers and walkers from 227 companies will gather for corporate camaraderie and world-class entertainment – all for a good cause. J.P. Morgan will be donating race proceeds to the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation for the second consecutive year as part of its corporate responsibility.

To ensure the safety of all participants, the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department has approved temporary road restrictions during the race between 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm.

We would like to reassure residents that we will make every effort to ensure as little as possible disruptions during this time.

Race route description and detail:
From the runners and joggers start line:
Start in Venus Street, close to corner of (c/o) Greenacres Drive, run down Venus Street (north to south), away from The Wanderers Club, and turn left into Tyrwhitt Avenue, right into Melrose Street.

From the walkers start line:
Start in Wingfield Avenue corner of (c/o) Greenacres Drive, turn left into Greenacres Avenue, right around park, continue with Greenacres Drive and turn right into Melrose Street. The two starting groups merge 200m before the 1km mark. From here the route is the same for all.

Merged race route:
Runners and walkers make their way up Melrose Street, right into Cecil Avenue, left into Tyrwhitt Avenue, right into Tottenham Avenue, right into Jameson Avenue, left into Tyrwhitt Avenue, left into Reform Avenue, left into Jellicoe Avenue, right into Jameson Avenue, right into St Andrew Street, right into Bute Avenue and left into Venus Street and onto Finish line in The Wanderers Club.

Residents are kindly requested to make use of the following three access streets into the Melrose and Birdhaven areas during the Temporary Road Restriction periods.
• Into North Street from Oxford Road (avoid Rudd Road)
• Into Greenacres Drive from Edgewood Avenue and Melrose Street
• Into Cecil Avenue from Glenhove Road

Akani Simbine came on Saturday at the Athletics Gauteng North Championships at Tuks oh so close for the second time in eight days to breaking 10 seconds in the 100 metres when he won his semi-final heat in 10.04 s.

Actually it was expected that he would do so in the final but unfortunately his chances was foiled by a brief thunderstorm about 40 minutes before the final. Simbine went on to win the final in respectable time of 10.13s. He has now qualified in the 100m and 200m for the World Championships in Beijing. On Friday night Simbine won the 200m in personal best time of 20.27s.

The High Performance Centre (hpc) athlete said afterwards that the wet track was certainly not beneficial to running a fast time. “It felt to me like my feet were getting sucked into the track.”
Simbine admitted that he was capable of running a faster time in his semi-final but purposely decided not to do so.

“I slowed down after 80 metres my reasoning being that it is not worth it break 10 seconds in a semi-final especially since I could feel the wind in my back and realized a big effort might be in vain.”
The wind reading for the semi-final was 2.3 metres per second from behind so Simbine’s time of 10.04s won’t officially recognized by statisticians.

The big question now is whether Simbine will try and break 10s before he goes on to compete internationally. There was a rumour going around on Saturday afternoon that he might try and do so at the South African under-23, Junior and Youth Championships (9-11 April) in Bloemfontein because he wants to get the sub-10 second race out of the way.

Simbine however was not prepared to confirm that he will be competing in Bloemfontein.
“Bloemfontein is certainly a good venue for running fast times, but I have not yet decided whether or not I will compete in the Under-23 Championships.”

Werner Simbine, coach, said the chance of Simbine going for a fast time at the South African Championships in Stellenbosch is slim.

“The only thing that matters at a national championship is to win the title.”

With two weeks to go until the running of the Old Mutual Two Oceans Ultra Marathon on 4 April, the traditional route that runs over Chapman’s Peak Drive remains the first choice, but the back-up route over Ou Kaapse Weg is being prepared just in case ‘Chappies’ is not usable.

Following the devastating fires that raged along Cape Town’s Southern Peninsula in early March, resulting in the closure of Chapman’s Peak Drive due to the threat of rock falls, the Two Oceans organizers are still hopeful that the 56km route will follow as normal but have stressed that runner safety remains a top priority in the Easter Weekend festivities.

“We continue to be in close contact with the City of Cape Town Disaster Management team and other key role players, and keep a finger on the pulse of all developments affecting our Ultra Marathon route, especially Chapman’s Peak,” says Carol Vosloo, general manager of the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon NPC. “Running the event over Chappies is our first choice, but with athlete safety being our top concern and with two weeks to go before the event, it is prudent to look at our alternative route as an option.”

Alternative Route

Ou Kaapse Weg is the official alternative route for the Old Mutual Two Oceans Ultra Marathon, and was used for four years between 2000 and 2003, when Chapman’s Peak was closed while the tunnels and rock fall catchment nets were being constructed. The distance will not be affected, remaining at 56km.

The Ou Kaapse Weg detour route starts as normal in Main Road, Newlands, and takes runners along the scenic South Peninsula route, through Fish Hoek and Kommetjie. However, instead of heading towards Chapman’s Peak, runners will go over Ou Kaapse Weg, then along the M42 Steenberg/Spaanschemat River Road until they join the Half Marathon route at the Ladies Mile/Parish Road intersection before heading onto Southern Cross Drive. From the top of Southern Cross the original route is back in use, along Rhodes Drive and the M3 back to UCT.

“We thank runners for their patience. While we remain confident that the scenic Chapman’s Peak route will stay in place, we hope that confirming the alternative plan will empower runners to prepare for the possibility of a route change,” says Ms Vosloo. “Again, we cannot stress enough that runners’ safety is put first at all times during our planning and decision-making.”

Is the 90th Comrades Marathon your first? Are you feeling nervous about where to begin? Are you sure you’re doing the correct training? Are you getting optimum nutrition?

If these sort of questions are on your mind, do not panic! Be Part of It and attend the Bonitas Comrades Novice Seminars at a town near you!

Over 5000 novice runners have entered the 90th Comrades Marathon. The 2015 Bonitas-Comrades Novice Seminars are designed specifically for first-time Comrades Marathon runners.

The project is sponsored by Bonitas Medical Fund, one of the major sponsors of the Comrades Marathon and South Africa’s second largest open medical scheme. These seminars are interactive and very informative.

Attendants will have the opportunity to interact with the Comrades Coach, Lindsey Parry and other experts, including a medical doctor and dietician. Among the topics to be covered are:

·        injury prevention

·        treatment of injuries

·        training

·        running shoes

·        tapering

·        race day strategies

The medical doctor will advise on how to train and run a healthy Comrades. The dietician will cover runners’ nutrition, including what to eat while training and race day sustenance.

The presentations will be as follows:

SABC race day TV commentator, Ian Laxton will open the seminar and brief the novices on relevant race information as well as the charitable aspect of The Ultimate Human Race, including details of Race4Charity.

Registered Dietician, Nicki de Villiers works with athletes and guides them to optimum nutrition to train well and achieve their running goals. Nicki has been working in the field of dietetics for around 20 years and has been concentrating on sports nutrition for the last 12 years. 

The Comrades Marathon Coach, Lindsey Parry will share valuable information regarding training, injury prevention and treatment; recovery; reasons for failure and how to prevent them; tapering and race day strategies.

Dr Sello Motaung is a medical doctor with experience in Sports Medicine and Occupational Medicine. He has travelled broadly with elite South African athletes at national and international sports events as the Team Medical Officer. He will share health tips with the runners to ensure they have a good race day.

These seminars are not to be missed. Entry is free and bookings are not necessary. BE PART OF IT – BAMBA IQHAZA!

 

DATE	DAY	TIME	PROVINCE	HOST	PHYSICAL ADDRESS
24-Mar-15	Tuesday	19h00	Central Gauteng	Boksburg Athletic Club	Sportsmans Warehouse East Rand Value Mall, Rietfontein Road, Boksburg
25-Mar-15	Wednesday	19h00	Central Gauteng	Randburg Harriers	Hoërskool Randburg, Corner of Malilbongwe and Rabie Fontainebleau, Johannesburg
28-Mar-15	Saturday	09h00	KwaZulu Natal	Nedbank Head Office	90 Bram Fischer Road, Durban
14-Apr-15	Tuesday	19h00	Gauteng North	High Performance Centre	TuksSport Athletic Clubhouse South Street, Hatfield, Pretoria
22-Apr-15	Wednesday	19h00	Cape Town	Atlantic  Athletic Club	Hamilton’s Rugby Club, Stephan Way, off Fritz Sonnenberg Road, Green Point, Cape Town
29-Apr-15	Wednesday	19h00	Bloemfontein	Nedbank Bloemfontein Achilles	Bloemfontein Achilles Sports Centre corner of At Horak and Parfitt Avenue, Bloemfontein

For more information, please email CMA Marketing Coordinator, Thami Vilakazi: [email protected]

South Africa’s AJ Calitz and Bernard Rukadza of Zimbabwe, running as Team KWAY, claimed the second and third stage wins at the seventh annual ProNutro AfricanX Trailrun presented by New Balance in Grbaouw from 13 to 15 March, which gave them the overall win for the second year running.

They completed the three stages of 34km, 34km and 22km in a combined time of 6 hours 46 minutes 18 seconds, with Eric Ngubane and Thabang Madiba of Team Salomon second in 6:51:11, while Edwin Sesipi and Johardt Van Heerden of Team 32gi Gauteng finished third in 7:07:30.

In the mixed category, Yolande Maclean and Nic De Beer of Team CW-X Ultraspire claimed a hat-trick of stage wins to secure the title in an impressive combined time of 7:40:46. Kerry-Ann Marshall and Morne Van Greunen of Team Enduro Hub came in second in 7:51:44, while siblings Natia and Antoine Van Heerden of Team Twinning finished third in 8:20:39.

Although Nicolette Griffioen and Carla Van Huyssteen of Team ProNutro Timefreight shook things up in the women’s race by claiming the third stage victory, it didn’t make much difference to the overall order as Meg Mackenzie and Landie Greyling of Team Salomon Blondies eased their way to the women’s title in 8:06:26, having opened a huge lead over the first two days in spite of Landie waking up on day two with a sore throat. Nicolette and Carla finished second overall in 8:41:56, while Inge Visser and Liesbeth Van Der Merwe of Team Ganbei were third in 9:29:34.

Hardworking Joburgers need a very compelling reason to go out on a school night. Around 300 of them were convinced once given the opportunity to dress up in ridiculous clothing, apply luminous war paint and chase each other around Delta Park for a few kilometres in the dark.

Many of those same lunatics found themselves amongst the 500 runners at Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens on Saturday morning, tackling the heat, the heart rate and that notorious hill.

The two races comprising the annual Merrell Autumn Trail Runs held last week in Gauteng cannot be more different. One is a lush, green, flat path and the other a dry, rocky, steep and technical trail. Both draw out a lot of sweat, some profanities and many jubilant smiles from all the characters who triumph the route, some attempting an off road race for the first time and others seasoned trail addicts.

Michael Moyo and Moreblessing Ndlovu pushed the pram with their three month old daughter in it through the finish line, having run the entire 5km evening race without any torch, prompting organiser Graham Bird of Mountain Runner to instantly offer a spot prize of a Black Diamond headlamp to the couple so their little navigator can better enjoy the view on their next night time excursion. Other participants picked up a plethora of Merrell and Nikwax sponsored prizes for being brightly dressed, for reaching the microphone first with a correct answer and of course for finishing first, second or third in their category.

Joburg trail runners now have the whole of Winter to wait before the Merrell Spring Runs opens up again in August with two more different and challenging races.

Full results on www.mountainrunner.co.za. Race pictures on www.facebook.com/MountainRunnerEvents

Lebogang Shange broke a South African race walk record for the second time in eight days. His time (on Sunday 15 March) for the 20km race walk event in Lugano, Switzerland, was 1 hour 21 minutes and 50 seconds.

Shange was second behind the Frenchman, Yohann Diniz, who broke the 20km world record on 8 March. The time walked by Shange, an athlete from the High Performance Centre, is 32 seconds faster than the previous South African record (1:22:21) that was set by Chris Britz in 1996 in Eissenhuttenstadt.

His record time means that Shange has qualified for the World Championships in Beijing (22-30 August). At the University of Pretoria last week, Shange bettered another SA record that was set by Chris Britz, his coach, by winning the 3000m walk in a time of 11 minutes and 20.39 seconds. His time was nearly seven seconds faster than the previous record of 11:27.20 that was set in 1989.
Diniz’s winning time in Lugano (15 March) was 1:17:24. Caio Oliveira (Brazil) was third in 1:22:00 and Tom Bosworth (England) fourth in 1:22:23.

Race walking might just be the most exciting athletics event at the moment because hardly a weekend passes without a world record being bettered.

Diniz broke the 20km race walk world record last week (8 March) at the French Championships in Arles, clocking 1:17:02. However, his record was broken on 15 March by Japan's Yusuke Suzuki at the Asian Race Walking Championships in Numi, Suzuki’s home town.

Suzuki improved it by 26 seconds, winning at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge meeting in 1:16:36.
Britz is quite excited about his protégé’s performances. He does not hesitate to predict that Shange is undoubtedly capable of even faster times.

“It would seem that Lebogang’s time for the first 10km was 41 minutes and 20 seconds and his time over the last 10km was very near to 40 minutes.

“The challenge now is to get him to go out a little bit faster over the first 10km.
“There are still a few small things in his technique that needs to be sorted out and it is very important that Shange should believe in his own abilities.”

Shange will be competing in Dudinska, Slovakia, this weekend.

Varsity Athletics launched its third season in Johannesburg on Monday. It’s expected to be bigger and better than ever, with last year’s champions Tuks looking to make a strong start when the first meet takes place on 24 March in Potchefstroom. The second meet will take place on 20 April in Stellenbosch.

This year’s meetings will see a number of big names competing, including Olympic silver medallist Caster Semenya. The 24-year old will represent Pukke in the two meets.

Nine of the 19 South African athletes who participated in the Commonwealth Games in Scotland last year had taken part in Varsity Athletics earlier in 2014 – and of those nine, three won medals (two silvers and a bronze). “The fact that the athletes who took part in Varsity Athletics went on to not only compete but win medals at such a prestigious event is evidence that the quality of the competition is world class,” says Duitser Bosman, CEO of Varsity Sports.

Varsity Athletics exposes athletes to the level of competition, packed stands and noisy crowds they can expect to find wherever they travel in the world. “We believe that part of what makes Varsity Sports so great is that it exposes its participants to the kind of competitive intensity they can expect at big events,” says Bosman. “This helps them get used to the sometimes hostile atmosphere from the crowd so that they’re not overwhelmed when they have to perform under those circumstances for the first time.”

The age cut-off of 25 ensures that this platform serves as a catchment for youngsters who might otherwise fall away, while having the meets televised boosts the profile of some of South Africa’s most promising athletes.

“Without regular competition and incentive to compete, we run the risk of some of our best athletes slipping through the cracks,” Bosman points out. “By offering athletes the platform to showcase their skills and go up against other top competitors, we hope that we can keep them motivated. It’s our mission to provide a springboard for these incredibly talented athletes to launch their careers.”

Varsity Athletics meetings are conducted under the rules of IAAF and ASA, and athletes may take part in two events, excluding relays. Athletes earn points for their team according to where they’re placed. Nine points are awarded for first place, and seven for second place. Thereafter, the value of each place decreases by one point up to eight, which is worth a single point.

If there’s a tie for first place in any of the field events (except high jump), the athletes who are tied will get an additional trial. For the high jump, the standard IAAF jump-off rule applies. In the case of ties for any of the other places, the points are added up and divided by the number of athletes involved.

Akani Simbine proved on Saturday at a league meeting at the University of Pretoria that it is just a matter of time before he breaks through the magical 10 second barrier when he won the 100 metres in 10.06 seconds.

In the history of South African athletics only five athletes were able to run the 100 metres in a time faster than 10.10s.

South Africa’s most significant sprinting highlight was undoubtedly when Simon Magakwe won the 100 metres in 9.98s at the national championships last year, becoming the first South African to break 10 seconds.  Simbine finished second in the same race in a time of 10.02s.

Johan Rossouw (10.06 in 1988), Matthew Quin (10.08s in 1999) and Sherwin Vries (10.08s in 2003) are the only other sprinters who were able to run faster than 10.10s.

Unfortunately for the hpc/Tuks sponsored athlete, the wind from behind (2.6 metres/second) was too strong on Saturday for his time to be officially recognized by the statisticians. Simbine won the 200m in a personal best time of 20.35s, but again the wind from behind (2.1 metres/second) was too strong.

However, Simbine is undoubtedly in good form at the moment,   especially considering how much he improved on his winning times of the previous weekend on the same track.  Last Saturday he won the 100m in 10.42s and the 200m in 20.76s.

“Getting rid of the rust,” was Simbine’s comment on his first two races for the season. Ever since last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow Simbine has been struggling with a torn hamstring and some other niggles.

Simbine does not hesitate to describe his 10.06s run as a great confidence booster.

“I now know that I am again capable of running really fast times. Quite honestly, I did not expect to break 10.10s. I would have been satisfied with a time of 10.15s but, when I noticed the time on the stopwatch a few metres from the finish, I accelerated a bit and dipped towards the line. My time was 10.07s at first, but it was rounded off to 10.06s. I knew immediately that it was not going to be official because I could feel the wind from behind.”

Since achieving a time of 10.02s last year, Simbine had to answer the question of when he was going to break through the 10 second barrier on countless occasions.  His answer remained the same.

“I know I am capable of running times faster than 10 seconds, but I am not going to become obsessive about it. My body will tell me when it is time to do so.  Once I have done it, it will be important to keep on running times faster than 10s.  I would be very disappointed if it should turn out to be merely a one-off happening.”

Simbine hopes for another fast performance during the Gauteng North Championships at Tuks this weekend.

Russel Tucker won the discus on Saturday with a distance of 60.87m.                        

The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) will once again host the annual Bonitas Comrades Expo at the Durban Exhibition Centre in May.

The three-day Expo is the largest running-related exhibition in South Africa, with more than 100 exhibitors, showcasing the latest in running-gear, nutrition, technology and more.

With over 50,000 visitors attending last year’s Expo, the event has become a highlight on the Durban exhibition calendar; and caters for every kind of runner and sporting enthusiast.

So whether you are a novice or veteran runner, the Comrades Expo is not to be missed. This is the meeting place for athletes from around South Africa and the globe before their big race on Sunday, 31 May 2015. It is a space where stories are shared, advice is swopped and pre-race nerves are quelled.

The Durban leg of the Comrades Athlete Registration process is a major facet of the Expo. Runners who have opted to do their Comrades registration in Durban can collect their race numbers here as well as their goodie bags, New Balance Comrades runner tee, Nedbank Comrades headgear; in addition to the 90^th commemorative Comrades watch if they’ve ordered one.

Comrades Coach Lindsey Parry and other running professionals will also be on hand to offer advice and support. Entrance is free. Be part of the Comrades experience by visiting the Durban Exhibition Centre between the 28^th and 30^th of May 2015 between 09h00 and 19h00 on Thursday and Friday; and 09h00 to 17h00 on Saturday.

Race Director Rowyn James says, “In line with our 90^th Comrades Marathon celebrations, our three-day Expo is going to be an exciting and memorable experience. We invite you to be part of it.”

For more info, please call Comrades Marathon House on 033 897 8650.

NOTE: The Pietermaritzburg Athlete Registration will be hosted simultaneously at Comrades Marathon House at 18 Connaught Road, Scottsville.