Lesotho's Mabothile Lebopo winning the men's marathon (© Mark Ouma)
Lesotho’s Mabuthile Lebopo and Namibia Beata Naigambo were crowned winners of the men’s and women’s contests at the Nedbank South Africa Marathon Championships on Sunday (10).
The event doubled up as South Africa’s trial for their squad for the Beijing Olympic marathon.
Taking full advantage of the favourable weather condition and the flat course, many leading athletes achieved their best performances.
Men’s race
The athletes got off to a promising start with a lead bunch of about 30 athletes going past the 10km mark in 30:40 and the half way mark in 1:05:32. The lead group remained more or less intact until 26km when marathon debutant Coolboy Ngamole, took the lead.
This has the effect of breaking up the lead bunch with only Zimbabwean Moses Njodzi, Lesotho’s Mabothile Lebopo, Moses Mosuhli together with South Africans Bethuel Netshifefe Richard Mavuso, and David Gadebe effectively maintain contact with Ngamole.
At 30km again Ngamole stepped up his pace. This time only Lebopo, Njodzi, and Mosuhlui could respond. Ngamole’s brave run begun shortly after 35km. First Lebopo and then Mosuhli over took him. Sensing victory the pair from Lesotho made their move at 35 km and never looked back. Lebopo cross the finish line in a career best of 2:13:52. Mosuhli (2:14:03), Ngamole (2:15:08) Gadebe (2:15:30) who followed also achieve their lifetime bests.
“I started out cautiously because I have just recovered from a calf injury that prevented me from defending my Soweto marathon title last October. Even when Ngamolle made his surges I was not worried. My only real challenge was the defending champion George Mofokeng who started well but then dropped back after 20km. From them on I knew I had a strong chance of winning this race. Having already qualified for the Olympics, I want to focus on training for Beijing,” says Lebopo.
Ngamole was please with his performance even though he finished third. “I have never run a marathon and so I am happy with what I achieved today. Next time I will have a better idea of how to pace myself,” says Ngamole.
Women’s race
Meanwhile in the women’s race, the contest for the ultimate honours rapidly narrowed down to five runners after ten. With local heroine and defending champion Poppy Mlambo out of the race, the local challenge was lead by last year’s bronze medallists Riana van Niekerk, Charne Bosman, and marathon debutant Mpho Mabuza. They stayed in contact with Lesotho’s mamriolla Tjoka, Namibia Beata naigambo and Botswana’s Onkemetsi Solotate.
Tjoka who is now a regular winner at major road races in South Africa broke away at 22 km taking with her Naigambo. The rest seemed to have given up the challenge and appeared content with battling out for the minor position.
Meanwhile Naigambo stayed in contact with Tjoka until the last three kilometres when she made her move. Briefly Tjoka put up a spirited challenge but could not maintain the pace. Naigambo went on to win the race in 2:38:44 and in the process bettered her career best by nearly five minutes. Runner up Tjoka (2:39:38),Bosman (2:42:28),Van Niekerk (2:45:05), debutant Mpho Mabuza (2:47:53) and Botswana’s Onkemetsi Solotate (2:51:32) all achieved life time bests.
“This is a miracle. I never believed i could beat Tjoka. All I wanted to do was to better on my fourth place from last year. Improving my career best form 2:40:10 which I run in Pyonyang (North Korea) last year is a real bonus,” says a delighted Naigambo.
“My dream is to compete at the Olympics. I do not just want to go there to add to the number of entries in the race run. Instead I want to make an impact for my country and my continent,” Naigambo revealed.
Never before has Tjoka been beaten ina marathon on south African soil inthe past four year. Shwas was gratious in defeat. “ Beata (Naigambo) ran a courageous race. I have been recovering from a flu and so I could not keep up with her in the last few kilometres of the race. Once I have recovered i want to concentrate on preparing for the Olympics as I will be the only one from Lesotho in the women’s Olympics marathon,” says Tjoka.
Mark Ouma for the IAAF
Click here for FULL RESULTS
RESULTS
MEN
1 Mabothile Lebopo (Lesotho) 2:13:52 PB
2 Moses Mosuhli (Lesotho) 2:14:03
3 Coolboy Ngamole (South Africa) 2:15:08
WOMEN
1 Beata Naigambo (Namibia) 2:38:44 PB
2 Mamarolla Tjoka (Lesotho)2:39:38
3 Charne Bosman (South Africa) 2:42:28 PB
