Category: News

WORDS: SARAH HEARN

“This is a big one” nodded Richard Ayres with wild eyes, 40km and 10 hours into the Merrell Hobbit 100.

The trail lends itself to superlatives and exaggerations but his understated affirmation captures the essence of this legendary race. It is a passage up and across the Amathole mountains, through waterfalls and indigenous forests, over magic mushrooms and under massive yellow woods. More than that, it a trek deep into one’s own self, searching for the spirit and strength to move relentlessly onward and upward, to resist the temptation to sit down and curse with the goblins this treacherous way.

27 brave souls set off and just 17 completed the full course of this ultra-tough two day traverse. From Maden Dam at dawn – to long after dusk for some of them – they ran, stumbled and trudged to arrive at Cata Hut and lay claim to a bed after a hot shower and very welcome dinner. The next morning promised the descent into the village of Hogsback and the finish line at Arminel Hotel, but with the Hog standing firmly in their path they still had a further 2100m to climb up and over.

On their way back they were joined by competitors tackling the shorter, but no less technical, 38km and 16km routes, possibly the most difficult for their distance races in the country and in the words of one seasoned athlete “The best value per kilometre” in terms of terrain, views and overall experience.

The Merrell Hobbit weekend, presented by Nikwax, in this magical pocket of the Eastern Cape attracts runners who aspire to Live the Adventure. The event organisers, Tatum Prins and Graham Bird of Mountain Runner Events are both accomplished adventure racers and ardent advocates of an outdoor, active lifestyle. They designed the 5km fun run specifically to introduce and encourage new feet onto the trails. Local resident Landile Malamlela quickly sourced an alternative to his flip flops when Graham offered him a free entry after he showed interest during the set up and came flying into first place with a time of 23:27 followed by several speedy and sure footed juniors from all over, signalling an exciting future for the sport in our country.

Beyond PBs, each route in this event inspires a person to give their best and by that, be their best.

Congratulations to everyone who made it past the start, and the winners of the 100km; Steven Erasmus and Christine Coppinger. Jade Muller and Lizani Grant won the 38km and Rory Scheffer and Alexia Loizou headed the 16km. All results and superb photographs from Bruce Viaene are on “MountainRunnerEvents” Facebook page and www.mountainrunner.co.za

The World-Champion, Ex-World-Record-Holder and winner of great marathons like Frankfurt, Berlin, London and New York, Wilson Kipsang and his wife Doreen will be guests of the Mauritius Marathon this year.

This unique marathon will take place on the 19th of July 2015

A World-Star at the Mauritius Marathon

Kipsang will support the organizers with some charity events on the beautiful island in the Indian Ocean. There will be – like every year – a visit with interested runners to one of the SOS children
villages which are one of our Charity-Partners on the Island.

The Mauritius Marathon has achieved a high level of sympathy and popularity with the runners because of its partnerships with some major Marathons like Frankfurt, Stockholm, Athens, Amsterdam, Salzburg and the Reggae Marathon Jamaica.

Another reason was the outstanding presence at many Marathons Expos all over Europe in the past years, so that there have been already runners from 25 countries for the event.

All runners and fellow travellers loved the Mauritius Marathon because of its family
atmosphere and its approach to meet the people and to see the beauties of the Island.

The runners have the chance to run one of the most beautiful courses in the world, which
leads most of the time straight along the Indian Ocean passing picturesque bays offering
breathtaking views of the mountain Le Morne. They will also find small villages, little islands
and men´s high sugar cane fields along the way before they finish at the beach of St. Felix.

For more info, go to www.mauritiusmarathon.com

A message from race organisers below:

“Runners and members alike seem to be under the impression that the Colgate race entries have closed, please note that this is not the case.

Entries are still available at the club office. We will be selling until 2 May at the stadium, or until 6000 entries have been received.

LATE ENTRIES AVAILABLE:

Address: Club Room 2, Boksburg City Stadium

Monday to Friday from 09:00 – 13:00

Saturday, 2 May from 09:30 – 14:00
 

South African Richard Murray gave it his all in a bid to finish on the podium at Sunday’s Discovery World Triathlon Cape Town.

 

In the end Murray finished fourth after being passed by Vincent Luis in the final kilometer of the 10km run. Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee won in his first race back after injury and Spain’s Javier Gomez, the current World champion, finished second. It was Frenchman Vincent Luis who passed Murray in the final stretch. For Murray it was bitter sweet seeing that fourth place is one place better than last year, but the athlete from Durbanville desperately wanted to finish on the podium in front of his home crowd that was some 1000 strong in the Green Point Athletics Stadium. 

 

“It was a spectacular race. I’m a bit upset that I couldn’t manage a place on the podium, but it is one place better than last year and I gave it my all. I was on the rivet during the running leg and I just couldn’t follow when Javier and Alistair went for it near the end. I tried to keep my third place. I still want to finish on the podium in front of my home crowd so badly,” said Murray.

 

“I am grateful for everybody who came out to support us today. I had kids running alongside me on the route screaming my name and that was very special. Big up to Javier, Alistair and Vincent for getting the podium places today. I‘m very happy to see all the people coming out to support us. The sport is growing and that is so important as well.”

The annual Legends Marathon will take a massive leap on its third edition this year that will surely put Buffalo City and the Eastern Cape on the map of international marathons. The Legends Marathon has received a timely boost from the International Association for International Marathon Standards (AIMS) which have accredited the race routes. The AIMS accreditation will span a period of three years (2015 – 2017).

AIMS is the premier member-based organisation composed of more than 350 of the world’s leading distance races from 102 countries. We can officially announce that the Legends Marathon finally got the most sought-after accreditation. The advantage of being accredited by AIMS is that the race will be listed in the AIMS calendar of events, which will surely attract elite international runners and boost tourism. And we continue to be the qualifying race for both Comrades Marathon and The Two Oceans Marathon.

Once again the race consists of three distances:

• 68km Starting at Bhisho stadium at 06:00 and finishing at the Jan Smuts Stadium in East London.
• 21,1km Starting at Jan Smuts Stadium at 07:00 and finishing at Jan Smuts Stadium in East London.
• 5km Fun run at 09h00 – start and end at the Jan Smuts Stadium.

Now in its third year, the race which is gaining popularity, will take place on Saturday, 3 October 2015, at the Jan Smuts Stadium. We are here to promote the race and invite foreign and local runners to join this prestigious homebrewed marathon. The race last year alone registered over R2, 2m in media coverage and this augurs well for our vision to promote sports tourism.

Our vision for the Legends Marathon has been to put the athlete first. To ensure we build the Legends Marathon into a popular can’t miss race meeting for athletes from across South Africa and beyond. The AIMS accreditation is a monumental boost because it is a step in the right direction.

PARTNERSHIP

It gives us great pleasure to announce that the event will be staged under the banner of the Border Athletics Club. This is a natural progression. Since inception, behind the scenes Oom Dan Louw and his dedicated team have been offering both technical and administrative advice, support and will lend credence to the province’s only internationally accredited marathon. In previous years we have staged the event with Overtakers and Real Gijimas and through this new partnership we will continue to adopt clubs that want to be empowered.

REGISTRATION

Registration is R190 for the 68km race and R70 for the 21km race. The Legends Marathon, features three races and these include the flagship 68km ultra marathon, which starts at Bhisho stadium at 6h00 am and finishes at the Jan Smuts Stadium in East London, followed by the prestigious 21km from Jan Smuts Stadium at 7h00 am and end at Jan Smuts Stadium, East London and the 5km Fun Run which will start and end at the Jan Smuts Stadium. Registration is now officially opened on www.legendsmarathon.co.za

ROAD SHOWS

Already Oom Dan Louw has been hard at work engaging clubs. We have scheduled a series of road shows that will kick-off in the Eastern Cape this month to visit clubs. This will be a unique opportunity for all athletes to come and share the type of experience they want as part of the build up to the race day. These activations are means of reaching out to athletes and ensuring that they have a memorable experience. We have learnt in the short time doing this marathon that the athletes has to be central and at the core of all our activities.

TIMING

This year’s race will be timed by well-known timing and results company, Finish Time Event Management, who will be responsible for online entries, registration, timing and results.

On this episode of Old Mutual Live, Professor Tim Noakes joins David Katz to talk about the Banting Diet and how it relates to your running. Have a listen below.

Don't miss a single episode of Old Mutual Live. You can subscribe to it on iTunes here or on Stitcher here and get every single episode sent directly to your mobile device. You can also listen to these podcasts directly on the Old Mutual App

Lebogang Shange proved on Saturday by winning the 20km race walk at the South African Championships that there is still no stopping as he set another first with his winning time of 1 hours and 23 minutes.

In doing so he not only again qualified for the World Championships in Beijing but, more importantly, his winning time was the fastest ever for any local 20km race walk event. Wayne Snyman, who was second in 1:23:45, also qualified for the World Championships.
“I have walked faster times in Europe but not in South Africa,” explained Chris Britz who coaches Shange.

Shange’s performance on Saturday brings the tally of the High Performance Centre (hpc) athlete for ‘firsts’ in race walking this season to four.

It all began when Shange improved on Britz’s South African record in the 3000m when he won in a time of 11 minutes and 20.39 seconds at a league meeting at Tuks. His winning time was nearly seven seconds faster than the previous record of 11:27.20 that was set in 1989.

Eight days later he wiped out another one of Britz’s records when he finished second in a time of 1 hour 21 minutes and 50 seconds in a 20km race walk event in Lugano Switzerland. Shange’s time was 32 seconds faster than the previous South African record (1:22:21) set by Chris Britz in 1996 in Eissenhuttenstadt.

Shange’s winning streak continued with his victory in Dudinska, which made him the first South African to win a race in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge series.

However, Shange was not confident going into the race on Saturday. He was battling a back-injury and last Wednesday a despondent Shange speculated that he would be lucky to get a top three finish.

“I am in lot of pain when I try to walk fast,” he complained.

His race started slowly. He languished back in the field during the first two laps, but then he started to increase his pace and caught up with Snyman. The two training partners stayed together up to about the 15km marker, but when Shange increased his pace again Snyman could not keep up with him. According to Shange he was in some pain during the race, but once he realized that he could win he just gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the ‘SOS’ messages his brain kept sending him.
Britz is confident that Shange’s injury woes will be something of the past within the next two weeks.
It was simply not meant for Akani Simbine to become the second South African sprinter to break through the magical 10 second barrier in the 100 metres on Saturday. The final was contested in a slight headwind of 2.1 metres per second. The Tuks/hpc athlete won in 10.25 seconds, with Roscoe Engel second in 10.43s and Emile Erasmus third in 10.66s.

LJ van Zyl, another Tuks/hpc athlete, qualified for the World Championships for a fourth time in a winning time of 49.29s in the 400-hurdles. Le Roux Hamman was second in 50.16s and PC Beneke (Tuks/hpc) third in 50.17s. It was the 7th time that Van Zyl won the SA title.

“It is always special for me to win the South African title. This time it was even more special because so many things have changed in my life during the past few months. I have a new coach, Irma Reyneke, who helped me to find my passion for athletics again and I will also become a dad later this year. Becoming a father is exciting but also somewhat frightening because of the responsibilities that come with fatherhood. Today (Saturday) I raced to thank my coach and my wife for their support.”

Van Zyl’s international campaign will begin on 15 May when he plans to race in the Diamond League Meeting in Doha.

“Doha has always been very special to me. I won my first major international race in Doha in 2005. I also hold the meeting record with a time of 48.11s.”
Wenda Nel (hpc/Tuks) won the 400-hurdles for women in 55.27s, again qualifying for the World Championships.

The next edition of Varsity Athletics is just a few days away (Monday, 20 April) and the anticipation is rising for the Sportainment event of the year to hit the student town of Stellenbosch. As usual, the event will be broadcast live on SuperSport 210 from 18h00 and fans can expect some off-the-track action to coincide with fireworks on the field.

Kiss Cam, Steamy, Selfie and Down-Downs will all form part of off-the-track action while there is plenty to look forward to for the athletes taking part.

Tuks are currently in first position after earning 127 points at the first meeting in Potchefstroom in March. They are closely followed by NWU-Pukke on 117 points while the University of the Free State is in third place with 89 points. For the other competing universities – UJ, Maties, TUT, NMMMU and UWC, it’s a tense battle for points.

Individually, Tuks' Akani Simbine earned the Victor Ludorum for most points in the men's events while Justine Palframan from Maties earned the Victrix Ludorum in the women’s events.

Simbine won the 100m at the first event and is hoping to go even faster this time around when he goes up against his rival Simon Magakwe, from Pukke, in the 100m. In the 200m, Simbine lists Gideon Trotter, Wayde van Niekerk and Anaso Jobodwana as his biggest rivals.

“My main goal for this year actually is to just break that ten second barrier. I feel like it is a bit too soon to break it because we only just started on our maximum speed work. Once that kicks into my body then I think I can do the sub 10,” he said.

His training regime is currently focused on speed, endurance and acceleration, just like Maties’ Palframan. Palframan won the 200m and the 400m, but hopes to perform even better when she runs on her home turf in the next meeting while going head to head with her biggest rival, Melissa Hewitt.

“I wasn’t really happy with either of my times (in Potchefstroom) so it was just a stepping stone and I realised what I have to fix. For the 200m I finished strong after doing the 400m. It was tough but it was a good training session. I am hoping for my personal best at the next meet,” she said.

“For the 200m I have to try and bring in more speed and for the 400m it is more on endurance. What is so nice about the 200m and 400m is that they work together.

“The 200m speed helps me with the 400m and then the 400m endurance helps me finish the 200m strong,” she added.

Caster Semenya is another familiar face who will be present at the meeting next week. Semenya won the 1500m event and put in an impressive performance in the relay at Potchefstroom and the Olympic medallist is looking forward to yet another outing.

“I just want to achieve my best performance on the day, particularly now that my injuries are behind me. But most of all I want to entertain people, for excitement and to have fun.”

“I don’t really have any one rival. Every competitor is a rival because you never know what the other athletes will achieve on the day and you should never underestimate anyone. It’s always best to run your own race.”

Returning from a long absence has been a catharsis for the track star and along with her new coach Jean Verster, she is taking training steady.

“Right now everything is just going really well. We have a fantastic team chemistry. But it’s important to be patient and listen to your body,” Semenya added.

The evening at Maties will feature 18 different events. The meeting will be conducted under the rules of IAAF and ASA and athletes earn points for their team according to where they are placed. There are nine points available for first place in each event while second place earns seven points. Thereafter, the value of each place decreases by one point up to eight, which is worth a single point.

If there is a tie for first place in any of the field events (except high jump), the athletes who are tied will get an additional trial.

In the case of a tie for any of the other places by two or more athletes the points for such places are added up and divided by the number of athletes involved. For the high jump, the standard IAAF jump off rule will apply for a tie in the first place. Athletes are allowed to take part in two events, excluding the relays.

Full list of Varsity Athletics events: Hammer throw, javelin, long jump, triple jump, high jump, shot put, discus, 100m, 400m hurdles, 3000m, 1500m (women), 1 mile (men), 110m hurdles (men), 100m hurdles (women), 800m, 200m and medley relay.

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.