The World Cross Country Champs are scheduled to come around every two years , but until recently , the 2019 Champs had been the last to take place , with the 2021 Champs cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic . Finally , in 2023 , the global cross country meet returned , with Bathurst , Australia ( some 220km north-west of Sydney ) playing host to the meet . This was the first time the World Champs had been taken to the Oceania region since 1988 , when New Zealand hosted the meet . This meant quite the trip for the South African team of 29 athletes , selected across the junior ( Under-20 ) women and men , and senior men and women , as well as for the first time since the introduction of the event in 2017 , an SA mixed relay team . |
The course had everything , including mud – here SA ’ s Elroy Gelant , Precious Mashele and Matthews Leeto carefuly negotiate the sticky mess |
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Decent Results
All in all , Team South Africa faired pretty well at these World Champs . Our mixed relay team finished fourth , narrowly missing out on a medal , and in terms of team competitions , the U20 men also finished fourth , while the senior men were fifth , the senior women seventh , and the U20 women eighth .
There ’ s a lot to take from the individual results as well , with Precious Mashele the best individual performer for South Africa with his 16th place in what was arguably the deepest , toughest and most competitive senior men ’ s field in decades . In fact , not since the days of
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the great Paul Tergat in the late 90 ’ s has such a deep field been assembled . Mashele ’ s 16th equalled his best performance at a World Cross Country Championships ( he was also 16th in 2019 ). Meanwhile , Maxime Chaumeton , who is heralded as the next great middledistance runner in South Africa , learnt that international cross country is another beast , and though he was not happy with his 27th place in the senior men ’ s race , he will have taken a lot from this race , which was his first real taste of major international competition .
The junior men showed immense promise , running with a maturity beyond their years , and they finished
The World Champs course was full of hills , and the weather was extremely hot
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close together to earn that fourth place in the team competition . For me this is exciting , as the this is the next generation for SA running , and with the correct training and preparation they can go far in coming years in cross country . And that is the key , isn ’ t it ? The correct preparation . I ’ ll delve into that in a bit , but I first want to talk about the mixed relay team .
Medal Contenders
South Africa sent Ryan Mphahlela , Prudence Sekgodiso , Tshepo Tshiete and Caster Semenya to represent SA in the mixed relay , and this quartet came within seconds of earning a bronze medal . That would have been the first ever medal South Africa would have picked up at a World Cross Country Championships . The closest we have come was the fourth place of Zola Budd in 1993 , and other remarkable performances include Colleen de Reuck ’ s fifth in Stellenbosch ( 1996 ), as well as Shadrack Hoff ’ s 15th in 1996 and Stephen Mokaka ’ s 15th in 2011 .
The format of the mixed relay was a set order of men , women , men , women , and it was decided that Mphahlela would run the first leg because of the aggressive approach he always brings to his races . The course was brutal , with ascents and descents throughout the 2km loop , plus some mud patches thrown in , along with vineyards and a slalom obstacle course section . It was virtually impossible to pass another athlete in the vineyard and obstacle slalom sections , but this made the course perfect for Mphahlela .
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Images : Cameron Spencer / Getty Images for World Athletics |