Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 114, January 2019 | Page 43

TRACK & FIELD
any athletes that injure themselves during the road to
the finals at the National Championships, but it means
that our top athletes must build up to and focus on SA
Champs as well as other meets and commitments.
Middle Distance
Headaches
Like most of the world’s countries, South Africa does
not have the depth of top talent yet to be able to set
aside a track middle distance squad, a cross country
squad and a road squad that will be able to represent
the country at the various international events. In fact,
probably only Kenya, Ethiopia and of late Uganda
have that kind of depth. This means that our best
middle distance runners will be preparing for the
Cross Country trials in January, pushing for selection
for the team that will head off to the World Cross
Country Championships in Denmark in March.
These very same cross country athletes will then use
some track events in February and March to fine-tune
their fitness before heading off to Denmark, but these
same athletes will no doubt be expected to perform
at the SA Championships in April, and then get ready
for the international season leading up to the World
Championships. There just does not appear to be any
down time for these athletes – and those very same
athletes will also be vying for the SA Half Marathon
title in July.
So athletes like Elroy Gelant and Thabang Mosiako,
two of South Africa’s brightest prospects, could be
racing virtually every month. Thabang is looking to
qualify for the 5000m in Doha, meaning he needs to
run a time of 13:22.50. Given the traditionally limited
top racing opportunities available to South Africans at
home, he may well need to run races internationally
to hit that target – and 5000m races globally are
becoming ever scarcer, meaning it becomes more
and more difficult to obtain an entry into these fields.
The danger is that he will run himself ragged trying to
hit that qualifying standard, and should he meet the
standard, he could be racing on tired legs come the
World Championships.
as he will eliminate
a number of events
he would have
targeted otherwise.
Thus a marathon
in April is on the
cards for him, and
he will race the
SA Half Marathon
Championships
in July, as this
is usually used
by ASA as a
fitness test for
marathon squad being prepared for the World
Championships. Thereafter there will be a few tune-
up road races as well.
Then there is the enigma that is Gerda Steyn, who
has made no secret of the fact that the Comrades
Marathon is her big focus in 2019, but as it stands
she is currently the fastest female marathoner
in South Africa with her 2:31.04 in New York in
Marathon Questions
On the other hand, Stephen Mokoka has made
the decision to race the World Champs marathon in
Doha, which makes planning his season a lot easier,
And then just for good measure, our marathon runners
will also be faced with a new test in Doha: The
marathon will be run at midnight, to avoid the intense
heat and humidity so prevalent in Doha at that time of
year, so they will have to adjust their sleep patterns as
well. So it’s going to be an interesting year!
a challenge lies ahead, not just on the track, but in related competitions
that will have a knock-on effect on the track season.
2019 Dates to Remember
While our athletes need to plan carefully for the long season ahead, the rest of us can start planning for some
awesome spectating or viewing on television of top meets all around the world!
January
19
June
SA Cross Country Trials (Pretoria)
March
2 Diamond League Stockholm (Sweden)
6 Diamond League Rome (Italy)
13 Diamond League Oslo (Norway)
9 ASA Summer Series I (Venue TBC) 16 Diamond League Rabat (Morocco)
16 ASA Summer Series II (Venue TBC) 28-29 Diamond League Eugene (USA)
21 ASA Summer Series III (Venue TBC) 28-30 SA Junior Championships (Venue TBC) 30 World Cross Country Championships,
(Aarhus, Denmark)
April
Meanwhile, Elroy’s headache is that he has yet to
decide on whether he will run the 5000m, 10 000m
or the marathon in Doha – or even compete at the
2019 World Championships at all. At the end of 2018,
he had decided he would race the Marathon at the
Olympic Games in 2020 and his preparation for that
may well mean he does not try to qualify for the World
Championships at all.
November 2018.
Gerda only races
one marathon
a year, and is
hoping that her
performance in New
York will see her
selected for Doha,
but she may face
a dilemma if ASA
ask her to prove
her fitness at the
SA Half Marathon
Championships in
July, a mere month
after Comrades.
4-6 SA Club Championships (Venue TBC)
9 Grand Prix Series I(Venue TBC)
13-20 CAA Africa U18/U20 Championships
(Ivory Coast)
13 Grand Prix Series II (Venue TBC)
18 Grand Prix Series III (Venue TBC)
25-27 SA Senior Championships (Venue TBC)
May
July
5 Diamond League Lausanne (Switzerland)
12 Diamond League Monaco (Europe)
20-21 Diamond League London (UK)
27 SA Half Marathon Championships (Port
Elizabeth)
August
18 Diamond League Birmingham (UK)
24 Diamond League Paris (France)
29 Diamond League Zurich (Switzerland)
September
6 Diamond League Brussels (Belgium)
7 SA Cross Country Championships (Pretoria)
3 Diamond League Doha (Qatar) 15 SA Marathon Championships (Cape Town)
4 ASA Elite Competition (Venue TBC) 28 SA 10km Championships (Middelburg)
10-11 CAA Southern Region Youth & Junior
Championships (Venue TBC) 28-6
Oct IAAF World Championships (Doha, Qatar)
11-12 World Relay Championships (Yokohama,
Japan) October Diamond League Shanghai (China) 14-31
25
All Africa Games (Casablanca, Morocco)
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