ADVERTORIAL
Four Top 10 Golds at Two Oceans !
Adele
Broodryk
René Kalmer
Kate Rees
Sithembiso Mqhele
Jenna Challenor
The Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon was Murray & Roberts Running Club ’ s best performance in a major road race yet . There was the outstanding gold from Sithembiso Mqele in seventh place in 3:14:39 , the first gold medal in a major race for the club ’ s male athletes . Add to that the two women ’ s golds that Adele Broodryk ( sixth ) and Jenna Challenor ( ninth ) clinched , and it ’ s our best ever showing .
Mqhele was issued strict pacing instructions by the club coach , Lindsey Parry , and was only lying 48th at halfway , but his metronomic pace , patience and trust resulted in a strong finish and a well-deserved gold . He clocked his fastest 5km split of the race ( 16:19 ) in the last stretch to the line ! Behind him , Rufus Photo was second in the men ’ s veteran category in 3:18:12 , which gave him 14 th place overall . His exuberant front-running early in the race means that he is certainly a Comrades gold contender .
Nolene Conrad
Janie Grundlingh
veteran category in 1:21:55 , with René Kalmer second ( 1:25:39 ) and Caroline Josten third ( 1:30:52 ). Janene Carey made it another victory for the black and yellow in the masters ( over-50 ) section , clocking 1:31:28 , while the evergreen Judy Bird was victorious in the grand masters ( over-60 ) category with her excellent time of 1:34:34 , in spite of the windy and testing conditions .
“ To us as a team , this was remarkable . It ’ s our first gold from our men in a major race , even though we ’ ve been close a few times . From our women there were some totally dominant performances , and I feel as if this step up to the big time has paved the way for us to have – if you ’ ll pardon the pun - a golden year in 2022 ,” says club chairman Ed Jardim .
Adele Broodryk , Dana Coetzee , Jenna Challenor and Sithembiso Mqele
Images : Action Photo SA & Courtesy Murray & Roberts Running Club
Broodryk was definitely the surprise package of the day , finishing in 3:47:23 , while Challenor – now a veteran – took another gold at the iconic Cape race in 3:53:03 . In fact , the black and yellow clad women took eight places in the top 20 , and claimed the open women ’ s team prize , led home by Broodryk , Challenor , Charné Bosman ( 11 th in 4:02:03 ) and Kate Rees ( 13 th in 4:07:11 ). Furthermore , the club produced its 16th clean sweep of a podium when our veteran women won the 40-49 team title . Challenor led this quartet home , followed by Bosman , Rees and Jeannie Henderson ( 15 th in 4:12:41 ).
Earlier on race weekend , in the half marathon , Nolene Conrad ’ s return to form continued , with the former winner of this event taking the last gold in tenth place with a 1:18:20 finish . In the over-40 ’ s , it was our 15th podium domination of 2022 , as Janie Grundling won the
Rufus Photo
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Lorette Pretorius , Caroline Josten , Janine Carey and Judy Bird
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