Johannesburg — Thabang Mosiako ran the race of his life to emerge victorious in the Nelson Mandela Bay Marathon that also doubled up as the South African Half Marathon Championships in Gqeberha this morning.
Mosiako, running in the colours of the hosting Eastern Province, had looked the most comfortable of the entire leading bunch throughout the race and it was not surprising when he was strongest in the final stretch.
He out-sprinted former champion and 10km national record holder Precious Mashele in the last kilometre to smash all kinds of records with his 60:29. It was not only the 28-year-old’s personal best in the 21.1 distance but also the course record as well as the provincial record.
Mashele ended up finishing third in a time of 60:43. He was overtaken in the final few meters by Lesotho’s Tebello Ramakongoana whose 60:35 saw him obliterating his country’s record which was set by Namakoe Mkhasi with his 61:61 in winning last year’s Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon.
The race had started fast with Kenya’s Weldon Kirui dictating the pace early on. The lead bunch crossed the five kilometre mark in 14:43 but the legendary Stephen Mokoka – running for Athletics Gauteng North – injected some pace to see them through 10km in 29:06.
But Mosiako was simply biding his time, hanging on and often running on the outside of the rest of the bunch. The young man, who is originally from the North West province, often giving the slower runners on the opposite side of the road the thumbs up showing just how comfortable he was – the fact he was running at a pace of under three minutes notwithstanding.
He made a few surges to break up the bunch and Kenya’s Samuel Naibei was the first casualty to fall of the bunch of five runners with Mokoka the next to fall off as the podium spots got taken up. The old horse did, however, get the last podium spot in the SA Half Marathon Championships.
Ordinarily, you would have fancied Mashele to win the sprint finish, but Mosiako is in the form of his life and was not to be beaten.
Ramakongoana then snatched the second spot to add to his victory in the Durban International Marathon from earlier on in the year.
Mosiako could not hide his excitement afterwards: “I am so excited. I achieved a huge PB that I’ve been dreaming of. It is so touching we’ve been working very hard me and Melikhaya (Frans, last year’s champion) and we promised each other that we want to go head to head in the race and shake hands at the finish/ But I saw he was struggling today. But I am happy I fought for the group and the city and Nelson Mandela Bay. I am so excited.”
In the women’s race, Glenrose Xaba ran a Personal Best 68:36 for a second place finish three seconds behind Kenya’s Betty Chepkemoi. The AGN runner was, however, national champion for a third successive time.
IOL Sport