BIRMINGHAM, England – Olympic athletes Khotso Mokoena and Lebogang Shange were the standout performers at the weekend, as the local and international athletics season continued to gain momentum.
Mokoena, the former IAAF World Indoor champion and Olympic silver medallist, won the men's long jump event with a best effort of 7.99m at the final leg of the IAAF World Indoor Tour Series in Birmingham on Saturday. He secured a comfortable victory, 16cms clear of Bermuda 's Tyrone Smith.
Elsewhere, on the road in Adelaide, Shange produced one of the best performances of his career. Competing at the Oceania Race Walking Championships, after participating in a training camp Down Under, Shange took second place in 1:21:00. He crossed the line 54 seconds outside his own national record, which was set at the same event last year, with Australian athlete Dane Bird-Smith defending his title in 1:19:37. Wayne Snyman also displayed impressive early-season form, taking sixth place in 1:21:26. He was just 40 seconds outside his Personal Best.
Back on home soil, on the track, Pretoria-based speedster Thando Roto smashed through the 10-second barrier in the men's 100m sprint, though he had the unfortunate benefit of a strong tailwind. The 21-year-old Tuks Athletics prospect won the dash in 9.98sec at a League Meeting at the University of Johannesburg on Saturday. Though he covered the distance 0.20 quicker than his Personal Best, Roto's time could not be considered as an official performance due to a +2.9m per second tailwind.
In another unofficial effort, promising middle-distance runner George Kusche clocked the fastest 1 000m time ever run by a junior South African athlete, at the third and final leg of the Classic Shootout Series at the University of Johannesburg. His 2:19.08 performance achieved on the sideline of a schools meeting, could not be considered for record purposes due to standard ratification processes. Kusche, however, covered the two-and- a-half lap distance more than a second quicker than Clyde Colenso's national junior record of 2:20.21 set in Sydney in August 1996, recording an unofficial national junior best.
Treasure Derison won the Classic Shootout race, a unique contest which saw simultaneous battles on the inside and outside lanes of the track. He crossed the line in 2:18.85, with Kusche grabbing second spot overall. Junior athlete Simonay Weitsz defended her title in the women's 1 000m race in 2:45.21.
And in the Mother City on Sunday, Lutendo Mapoto and Ulrica Stander lifted the men's and women's crowns after a hard-fought battle against strong winds at the popular Cape Peninsula Marathon. Mapoto bagged the men's title in 2:27:36, with Luthando Hejana grabbing second spot in 2:28:39, while veteran athlete Ulrica Stander won the women's 42.2km contest in 2:58:45, more than 12min ahead of her nearest competitor.