Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 111, October 2018 | Page 9

Champion Luvo once again enjoy a great battle with countryman and African Champ Ruswahl Samaai, with the two taking gold and silver respectively on the night, with best jumps of 8:36 and 8:32. While Luvo claimed the Diamond League series win, Ruswahl would go on to claim the gold medal just over a week later at the IAAF Continental Cup, with a 8.16m winning leap. Three Medals for SA 100km Team Team South Africa brought home three medals from the IAU 100km World Championships in Sveti Martin na Muri, Croatia, on 8 September. The first medal went to three-time Comrades champion Bongmusa Mthembu, who crossed the line in 6:33:47 to claim the men’s bronze medal. He was second in the previous edition of the championships in 2016, when he clocked 6:24:05 to break Bruce Fordyce’s long-standing SA Record. Behind him, Thusio Mosiea was 14 th in 6:59:00 and Best Ngwenya 16 th in 7:01:02, which earned the South Africans the silver medal in the men’s team competition, behind Japan. In 2016, the SA men won the team competition. In the women’s race, Salome Cooper finished seventh in 7:51:13 – like Bongmusa, clocking the sixth-fastest time ever by a South African – and she was followed home by Fikile Mbuthuma (14 th in 7:59:17) and Lisa Collett (19 th in 8:06:14). Their combined times secured the women’s team silver, once again behind a victorious Japanese team. Fireworks at Cross Country Champs The initially wet and windy conditions could not dampen the running fireworks at the 70 th SA Cross Country Championships in Port Elizabeth on 8 September. That saw Precious Mashele (Central Gauteng) comfortably retain the senior men’s 10km title, but defending champ Glenrose Xaba (Gauteng North) had to dig deep to outsrpint Kesa Moletsane (Free State) to retain her senior women’s 10km title by one second. Meanwhile, the 4km senior titles went to Marko Bucarizza (Central Gauteng) and Lebo Phalula (Central Gauteng). However, Marko’s win in his age category was somewhat overshadowed as he finished second to his provincial teammate, Ryan Mphahlele, who blitzed the 4km field to win overall by 23 seconds as he claimed the men’s under-23 title. Amongst other racing highlights were Ngconde Matwebu (Free State) outsprinting Dais Malebane (Central Gauteng) to win the men’s junior 8km title, although both were given the same finishing time, and Marné Mentz (Free State) running away with the under-23 women’s 4km title, after seemingly being out of contention at the start of the final lap and somehow finding an extra gear to take the win. SA Champs Crowned at Cape Town Marathon South Africa’s Stephen Mokoka took full advantage of superb running conditions at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon on 23 September. He broke away from the strong pack at 33km and went on to cross the line in 2:08:31, having gone through halfway in 1:04:43. That not only broke the course record by 10 seconds, but also gave him the fastest time ever run by a South African on a record-legal course in South Africa, and also earned him a first SA Marathon Champs title. The women’s race title went to Namibia’s Helalia Johannes, who also won in 2017. This time she crossed the line in 2:29:28, taking 52 seconds off the course record. Nolene Conrad was the first South African home, crossing the line eighth in 2:34:39 and taking 42 seconds off her PB as she also claimed the women’s SA title. Online Entries | Race Office | Race Marketing | Live Timing and Results www.peaktiming.co.za | [email protected] | Grant 082 468 0195 SELECTED UPCOMING EVENTS: 13 th Oct 2018 RACE MANAGEMENT FROM START TO FINISH 9 th Dec 2018 4 th Nov 2018 27 th Jan 2019 9