Cape Town — The streets of Johannesburg will be painted red on National Heritage Day when thousands of runners toe the line at Mary Fitzgerald Square to #RunTheirCity at the iconic Run Your City Joburg 10K race.
Among those who will be lining up to race on Saturday 24 September will be the likes of Olympian Precious Mashele, SA 5 000m record holder Elroy Gelant, KwaZulu-Natal’s danger man Mbuleli Mathanga, and Melikhaya Frans, fresh from his phenomenal run at the World Marathon Championships where he took a massive two minutes off his personal best.
“It’s a win,” said Mashele’s coach, Hendrick Ramaala, who said what he expects from his charge.
And his rivals will take note of the words of Ramaala, who predicted that his athlete, Maxime Chaumeton, would break 28 minutes at the Run Your City Durban10K earlier this year.
“Precious is back in shape. No more niggles, and is hungry to end 2022 on a high,” Ramaala said.
Mashele earned the title of “Mr 10k” after proving to be the most dominant 10km runner in South Africa in the last few years, racking up three SA 10km championship titles in a row from 2018, claiming the title in 2018, 2019 and 2021 (there were no championships in 2020 due to Covid-19).
His 2021 title came at the Run Your City Durban10K, where he clocked his 10km PB of 28 minutes 11 seconds. Ramaala’s eyes lit up when he heard of the new course in Joburg.
“That sounds like a flat course which suits Precious well. The highway will be an interesting experience, while the activations in the city amongst the tall buildings are sure to create lots of atmosphere, so you can expect some great racing,” Ramaala said.
“We have prepared well,” said Melikhaya Frans’ coach, Michael Mbambani . “Meli is fully recovered from the World Marathon Championships, and he has been doing some great sessions in training, so we expect a good race from him.”
Frans finished 18th at the World Marathon Championships, clocking 2hr 09min 24sec to improve on his previous marathon best of 2:11.28. “Meli will not be running for a time. He will race the opposition and decide when to make his move,” Mbambani said.
Gelant’s best finish at the Run Your City Joburg 10K is third in 2019, the last time that the Run Your City Joburg 10K was hosted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. His third-place finish came on a testing course that went over Constitution Hill.
“I’m really looking forward to racing the Run Your City Joburg 10K. Last time I finished third, so I want to do better. The race going over the highway will make it interesting as the route is very flat and should make for good times,” Gelant said.
"I know I will have my work cut out for me as the Run Your City Series always attracts the best runners. But it will be good to race at the Run Your City Joburg 10K again.”
Gelant’s last race of 2022 was at the Africa Championships in Mauritius in June, where he finished eighth in the 10 000m.
IOL Sport