ROAD RUNNING
At 31 years of age , Precious Mashele is clearly in the prime of his career as a long-distance athlete , if the impressive set of results he posted in 2021 is anything to go by . As athletic meets and road races came back in 2021 , following the total shutdown of the sport due to COVID in March 2020 , he steadily brought his times down across various distances on both track and road , and enjoyed the best year of his career , with the aim to step up to the marathon in early 2021 and hopefully qualify for the Olympic Marathon in August . His initial focus was thus on the track , in order to work on his speed .
Breaking the tape in Durban with a new 10km PB
On 5 March he set a 10,000m PB in Durban ( 28:20.99 ), taking a massive 43 seconds off his previous best of 29:03.40 , run in 2019 . Ten days later in Stellenbosch , he improved his 5000m PB by just under 20 seconds , improving from 13:58.19 ( run in 2020 ) to 13:38.50 . Two more PBs followed at the end of March , as he ran 27:55.87 for 10,000m in Durban on the 26th – another massive improvement 25 seconds – and then clocked 13:27.57 for 5000m in Stellenbosch on the 28th , improving his best by nearly 11 seconds .
In the meantime , however , his plans to run his debut marathon at the NN Mission Hamburg Marathon on 11 April in Germany had fallen through , due to problems obtaining a visa . Disappointed not to be able to take up the invite to run in Hamburg , but undaunted in his quest to get to the Olympics , Precious and his coach , Hendrik Ramaala , changed focus and decided that he should try to qualify for Tokyo in the 5000m on the track instead .
Chasing Titles
On 17 April , Precious claimed the national 5000m title at the South African Champs in Pretoria , thus retaining the title he won in 2019 , but then he took a sabbatical from the track to race the SA Half Marathon Champs at the Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon in Gqeberha on 1 May . Even though this interrupted his track-specific training programme , Precious convinced Hendrik to allow him to race the 21km , because as the breadwinner for his family , he needed to chase the prize money of R112,500 for the win .
In Gqeberha , Stephen Mokoka looked set to claim his 30th national title overall and fifth consecutive SA Half Marathon title when he surged clear with 5km to go , opening a lead of some 20 metres on the next runner . However , Precious was able to claw back the gap , using the speed he had been building on the track , and with 500m to go , he shot past Stephen , going on to win in 1:01:18 , six ahead of Stephen .
This gave Precious a second SA 21km title , having won it in 2014 , and took his overall tally of national titles on all surfaces to nine ( two in the 5000m , two each in the 10km and 21km on road , and three in cross country ). After the race , he thanked his coach for his success , and when asked where the extra speed was coming from , he said , “ I ’ ve been training for the marathon , so I haven ’ t actually done that much speed work , all these times are off marathon training .”
Booking His Ticket
Having recovered from his successful half marathon outing , Precious refocused on the track , and on 28 May he posted a 13:23.68 PB for 5000m in Durban . Chasing hard to meet the Olympic qualifying standard of 13:13.50 , he came frustrating close when he clocked a PB 13:18.70 in a special qualifying meet in Cape Town on 12 June , but was even more frustrated to clock just 13:26.43 six days later in Durban . It seemed his Olympic dream was slipping away … but in a dramatic final twist , he made it .
On 29 June , the day that Tokyo qualification would close at midnight , Precious was given one last chance to run a 13:13 , at a specially organised event in Durban , with fellow athletes lined up to help pace him to the required mark . Things did not get off to a good start , though , when the stadium lights at
“ I will also continue running 10km and half marathon races in SA , and the plan is to dominate in those events , while racing overseas when there is an opportunity ”
Images : Anthony Grote , Cuan Walker & Tobias Ginsberg
Precious powers to a much-anticipated Olympic qualifier in Durban in June
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