ROAD RUNNING
Bongelani Mkhwanazi ( far right ) with the lead group in this year ’ s Absa RUN YOUR CITY GQEBERHA 10K
Dreaming of a Sub
After shifting his focus from running marathons and ultras down to the 10km distance , Bongelani Mkhwanazi has become one of the country ’ s fastest and most consistent performers , and he ’ s knocking on the door of the very top echelons of the sport in SA . – BY TATHE MSIMANGO with SEAN FALCONER
Until July 2022 , no South African male athlete had run under 28 minutes for 10km on home soil . That changed when Maxime Chaumeton did it at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K , and he was joined in the sub-28 club by Precious Mashele and Thabang Mosiako at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY GQEBERHA 10K in April 2023 . The 2023 edition of the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K saw three athletes go sub-28 first time on SA soil , as Kabelo Mulaudzi , Stephen Mokoka and Mosiako put on an epic sprint finish for line honours . Later in the year , Adriaan Wildschutt ran sub-28 at the Sanlam Cape Town Peace 10km , bringing the homegrown sub-28 club membership to six .
This year , Elroy Gelant posted a 27:54 at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY CAPE TOWN 10K in May , to bring that tally up to seven , but just a short distance behind him was another athlete with plans to break into the sub-28 club as well . The next South African home in that Cape Town race was 27-year-old Bongelani Mkhwanazi of Black Diamond Athletics Club , who came home fifth in 28:35 , having also finished sixth in the Gqeberha leg of the RUN YOUR CITY Series in April , clocking 28:45 in the somewhat blustery conditions . With a 10km personal best of 28:26 and solid results this year , the KwaZulu-Natal-based athlete is pushing hard to become just the eighth local athlete to break 28 minutes on home soil … which is all the more remarkable , since he was seen as an ultra-distance athlete as recently as 2022 , when he was selected to represent South Africa at the World 100km Championships in Germany !
It is thanks to the success he has enjoyed at the shorter distances since the beginning of 2023 that Bongelani has set himself this lofty goal of breaking the 28-minute barrier , and he thinks it possible to achieve that in the upcoming Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K on 7 July . “ I believe I ’ m capable of achieving my dream to run under 28 minutes , which will put me into the spotlight . With the Durban 10K being flat , plus good weather conditions , it ’ s possible for me to get
Focused on the fast race pace in last year ’ s HollywoodBets Durban 10K
This year has seen Bongelani racing with the leading SA runners over 10km
Images : Tobias Ginsberg , Action Photo SA , Rogan Ward
18 ISSUE 169 | www . modernathlete . co . za