ROAD RUNNING
Precious amongst the frontrunners in Cape Town
Racing elite Kenyans in the Absa CAPE TOWN 12K CITYRUN
Kings Park failed , leaving the track in darkness and the 9pm lockdown curfew getting ever nearer . Cars were pull up to the track and headlights switched on to try make it possible for the race to take place , but thankfully the lights came back on and Precious could focus on the task at hand .
With Ryan Mphahlele , Nkosinathi Sibiya and Tumelo Mashaba as pacesetters , Precious proceeded to smash a 13:11.65 time , literally booking his Tokyo spot with just hours to spare . Speaking after the run , he was quick to acknowledge all the help he had received to qualify . “ ASA really supported me in getting this qualification , pulling out all the stops and organising a last-minute meet in order for me to qualify . Also , my club , Boxer , backed me all the way , and my coach , Hendrik Ramaala , never doubted me , even at times when I was not really sure this was the way to go . And I wouldn ’ t have done this without the guys who were my pacers on the night … Ryan Mphahlele , Nkosinathi Sibiya and Tumelo Mashaba were brilliant !”
Precious duly lined up in the second heat of the men ’ s 5000m in Tokyo , eventually finishing a disappointing 15th in 13:48.25 , having surged into the lead on lap four of the 12-and-a-half-lap race . He said afterwards that the excitement of the occasion got to him , and admitted that he did not stick to the race plan that he and Hendrik had agreed upon . “ I did not position myself the way the coach told me to , and when I took the lead early in the race , I was trying to make them run fast , but when they began to kick , I had nothing left . I learnt a lot in this race , and I hope to take those lessons to the World Championships in the US in 2022 .”
On The Road Again
With the Olympics and a long track season now behind him , Precious turned his focus back to the road , lining up in the PKO Poznan Half Marathon in Poland on 17 October . He came home fourth in a time of exactly one hour , knocking 24 seconds off his previous best , which had also come in Poland , exactly one year earlier , to the day , at the World half Marathon Champs in Gdynia . That time had knocked four
seconds off his previous best , run in 2019 , and gave him 14th position in the World Champs .
Though elated with his new PB , Precious said afterwards that he believed he could have gone still faster , had conditions been different . “ I had a very long trip to Poland , leaving SA on the Thursday and only arriving in Poznan in the early hours of Saturday morning before the race on Sunday . I believe that if my travel hadn ’ t been so long , I could have run better than I did , because I was mentally ready to win the race . I also thought I was in shape to break Stephen Mokoka ’ s national record of 59:36 . I believe I have it in me to run that fast .”
Precious has also won three SA Cross Country titles in recent years
Next on the calendar for him was the Absa DURBAN 10K CITYRUN on 31 October , which would also feature the SA 10km Championships . Having won this title in both 2018 and 2019 , Precious was obviously fired up to make it three in a row ( there was no 10km Champs race in 2020 ), and he also wanted to do better than his previous best in the Durban race , when he finished fourth in 2019 in a PB 28:26 . As he said , “ The Absa DURBAN 10K CITYRUN is a big race , a prestigious race , so for me to win that would be a big feather in my cap .”
He also added that after his experiences in Tokyo and Poznan , he was all the more ready to race on the road again on local soil , not just due to the heightened safety measure , but also thanks to the high level of competition he had faced . “ It was strange with all the testing and security measures . It was a very weird Olympic experience , and the competition was on another level , but I learned much in Tokyo and used that in Poland , and I will use that in Durban , too .”
Double Win in Durban
The men ’ s race saw drama from the gun as young Maxine Chaumeton stole a march on the pack and immediately opened up a gap of around 20 metres . While he was eventually caught again , his relentless early pace saw the lead pack go through 5km in 14:06 , and a time close to 28 minutes looked
Images : Roger Sedres / Image SA , Jaco Wolmarans & courtesy Precious Mashele
34 ISSUE 148 JANUARY 2021 | www . modernathlete . co . za