Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 76, November 2015 | Page 8

IN THE NEWS South African athletes and events making headlines Lebogang Clinches SPAR Grand Prix A year ago Lebogang Phalula announced her intention to win the 2015 SPAR Grand Prix title, having seen twin sister Diana-Lebo win the series in 2014, and at the beginning of October she lived up to her word when she won the Johannesburg leg of the SPAR Women’s 10km Challenge. This year she won in Durban and was on the podium in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria. Murray’s Memorable Year Star triathlete Richard Murray added a fourth consecutive podium finish to his 2015 tally at the beginning of October as he won the ITU World Cup event in Cozumel, Mexico. The series of top three finishes began with a third place in the Rio Test Event, then he won the WTS event in Edmonton, Canada, which was followed by another third place in the WTS Grand Final in Chicago in the USA. Richard is one of the hot favourites for a medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics after a magnificent year that saw him end fourth in the World Series, claim three World Series podiums, two World Cup wins and two Bundesliga wins, which followed on from his Commonwealth Games bronze medal and team silver of 2014 “It’s been my best season so far, especially with also qualifying for Rio next year with my third place in the test event!” said a very happy Richard. Willem Closes 2015 Season with a Win All African Athletics Medal Haul Team South Africa came back from the All Africa Games in Brazzaville, Congo, in September with an overall tally of 122 medals, including 41 golds, as we finished third on the medal table behind Egypt and Nigeria. That medal haul included gold medals for Antonio Alkana in the men’s 110m hurdles (in a Games record 13.32 seconds), Caster Semenya in the women’s 800m, Lebogang Shange in the men’s 20km race walk and Russell Tucker in the men’s discus. In the Para-athletics, Fanie van der Merwe (men’s 100m T37), Jonathan Ntutu (men’s 200m T12) and Tyrone Pillay (men’s shot put F42) also brought home gold medals. Our track and field athletes contributed a further two silver and nine bronze medals, while the para-athletes add