GET G ING
WORLD CHAMPIONS!
perhaps a little fast, but the support team could not gain access to the runners on the lap route until the first 10km was done.
Our runners are not used to repeating 10 laps of an extremely flat and windy route, and the last two laps eventually showed that the two frontrunners had overextended themselves, but it certainly made for exciting running and proudly South African heart-pumping performances. As they began the last lap, Bongmusa led from the Japanese athlete, followed by David and Gift. The boys were fighting hard and their pulse rates from their TomToms blazed into John’ s red zone – the world record pace coupled with the lack of sufficient recovery time after travelling for 25 hours to get to Los Alcarazes was taking its toll. hat a day 27 November turned out to be! Los Alcarazes, a beautiful little seaside village in
WSpain, was the venue for this 2016 World 100km Championships, which really ended on a high note for South Africa as our athletes joined forces to finish as new World Champions in the team competition, along with a 6:43:00 World Record for Gift Kelehe in the Masters 35-39 division( with David Gatebe third in the category), and the star of the day, Bongmusa Mthembu, taking the overall second spot in a new South African record time of 6:24:05! That broke the record held by Bruce Fordyce, 6:25:07, for some 27 years!
From the start the South African contingent took the lead, seemingly with little effort. That saw Ludwig Mamabolo and Rufus Photo leading the race, followed by Gift, David and Bongmusa about 80 metres back, and then the eventual winner, Japan’ s Hideaki Masuyama. The data from the guys’ TomToms warned coach John Hamlett that the pace was
Hideaki eventually broke the tape in 6:18:12, followed home by Bongmusa, while Gift finished strongly in ninth overall to claim his World Record by four minutes. David finished 12th overall and third master in 6:44:34, with Rufus coming home 19th in 6:52:43. The Japanese and American teams pushed hard to snatch the team title, but our men had done enough to win by three minutes at the end.
Prize giving with the National Anthem saw emotions running high and proud lumps in throats, and after a return journey of another 25 hours, the team was met at OR Tambo Airport by a wonderful crowd of fans who had come to welcome their champions home. What a Success story for South Africa, thanks to these athletes who ran with their hearts and guts, and showing the world that South African ultra-running is a force to be reckoned with.
Congratulations to the new World Champions – powered by TomTom.
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22 ISSUE 90 JANUARY 2017 / www. modernathlete. co. za