Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 77, December 2015 | Page 8

IN THE NEWS

South African athletes and events making headlines
Stephen PBs in Shanghai

Although he had to settle for
second place at the Shanghai
International Marathon in
China on 8 November and thus
relinquish the title he won there
in 2013 and 2014, Stephen
Mokoka still came home with
a new personal best of 2:07:40,
taking 53 seconds off his PB and
moving him up to fifth on the SA
all-time list, just over a minute
away from Gert Thys’ SA record
of 2:06:33. In the women’s race,
Mapaseka Makhanya ran a
2:37:21 to finish fourth and post
an official qualifier for the Rio
2016 Olympic marathon team.

1 November, clocking in with a 2:44:26 PB. Although she took
31 seconds off her previous best, she was disappointed with her
performance, as she had been aiming to run closer to 2:30 in order to
qualify for the Rio Olympics marathon team for next year. Much happier
was veteran Paralympian Ernst van Dyk, the 10-time winner of the
Boston Marathon wheelchair title, who added a second victory in New
York to the first title he won 10 years ago. (He was also fourth in the
Chicago Marathon in September.) Ernst crossed the line in 1:30:54,
a mere second ahead of second-placed Josh George of the USA, and
took 17 seconds off the time he posted in his first win.
Caroline Wöstmann

Para World Champs
Medallists

Records Tumble at Gun Run

The OUTsurance 94.5Kfm Gun Run
Half Marathon in Cape Town on 11
October saw a number of records
beaten. Veronica van Niekerk
(Boland registered) set a new SA and
WP open record of 1:50:30 in the
70-plus age category and Margie
Plantema a new WP domestic record
of 1:57:24 in the same division, while
SA Marathon record holder Gert Thys
ran a 1:06:50 to take five seconds
off his own Western Province veteran
record for the distance, set in August
2012. (Earlier in the same week,
Nancy Will set her umpteenth WP
record for grandmasters when she ran
43:04 in the BAKgat 10km in Bellville.)

New York, New York!

South Africa’s Two Oceans and Comrades double champion Caroline
Wöstmann finished 18th in the TCS New York City Marathon on

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ISSUE 77 DECEMBER 2015 / www.modernathlete.co.za

Tri Girls Dominate

South African triathletes Mari
Rabie and Anel Radford took
gold and bronze respectively
in the Hong Kong ASTC Sprint
Asian Cup on 2 November. Mari
covered the 750m swim, 20km
bike and 5km run in 1:03:41,
winning by seven seconds over
China’s Lianyuan Wang, with
Anel coming home a further four
seconds back.

Mputhi Banned, but
Keeps Comrades Gold

In anti-doping news, the IAAF has retrospectively banned Joseph
Mphuthi, who placed sixth in this year’s Comrades Marathon, for two
years for the use of the banned substance Norandrosterone. The ban is
effective from 12 April 2014 to 11 April 2016, because Joseph returned
a positive test on the former date at last year’s Forever Resorts Loskop
50km, where he finished second. His prize-winning results in various
marathons or ultras in the ensuing year have also been annulled,
including eighth place in the 2014 Legends 68km, winning the 2015
Cape Gate Vaal Marathon, and second at the 2015 Loskop. However,
the IAAF has bizarrely ruled that he can keep his 2015 Comrades result
and gold medal, but the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport
(SAIDS) is appealing this ruling. Meanwhile, a ruling must still be made
on the positive test returned by Sandile Ngunuza, ݡ