A number of Grahamstown athletes travelled to either Port Elizabeth or East London over the past weekend to take part in the Algoa Bus Bay Ultra 50km or the Old Mutual Buffs Marathon.
Many used the races as a qualifier and training for the Two Oceans which takes place in Cape Town at the beginning of April.
A number of Grahamstown athletes travelled to either Port Elizabeth or East London over the past weekend to take part in the Algoa Bus Bay Ultra 50km or the Old Mutual Buffs Marathon.
Many used the races as a qualifier and training for the Two Oceans which takes place in Cape Town at the beginning of April.
The two events were the last qualifiers in the Eastern Cape for athletes wanting to enter the Two Oceans, with entries closing on Wednesday this week.
The Buffs was over a distance of 42km and the Bay Ultra over 50km and there were three top ten local finishers, with Simphiwe Tana of Nedbank Running Club finishing 6th in the Buffs marathon in a time of 2:35:22.
Thembinkosi Ndyogolo (Nedbank) rounded off the tenth spot in the Bay ultra with his time of 3:22:56. He was also second in the 40-45 age category.
Also making the top ten was Jene Banfield of Run/Walk For Life Athletics Club who was sixth woman in the Bay ultra in 4:13:13 and also finished second in the 35-39 age category. Desmond Witbooi of Nedbank, finished third in the 35-39 age category in the Buffs marathon.
The overall race winner at the Buffs was Prodigal Kumalo in 2:20:13, while the women’s winner was Xoliswa Bici in 3:01:22. There were 598 finishers in the Buffs.
In the Bay ultra, overall winner was Wayne Gallant in 2:52:24 Celeste Swart was the women’s winner in 3:51:29. There were 378 finishers in the Bay ultra.
Grahamstown results at the Old Mutual Buffs Marathon: 6. Simphiwe Tana (Nedbank Running Club) 2.35.22 12. Carriot Galela (Run/Walk For Life Athletics Club) 2.43.24 14. Desmond Witbooi (Nedbank) 2.44.23 28. Melikhaya Jacobs (Nedbank) 2.51.20 81. Sean Erikson (Albany Road Runners) 3.18.03 120. Andrew Slaughter (Albany) 3.28.35 213. Eric Mapara (Rhodes University Athletics Club) 3.52.52
214. Jameo Dillon (Rhodes) 3.52.54 238. Barry Podesta (Albany) 3.56.00 250. Malibongwe Mbelu (Run/Walk For Life) 3.57.44 353. Siyabonga Ndlumbini (Run/Walk For Life) 4.13.33 356. Brian Bannantyne (Albany) 4.13.44
365. Colin Bosch (Rhodes) 4.15.12 431. Misty Weyer (Albany) 4.30.31 507. Richard Alexander (Run/Walk For Life) 4.52.10 Grahamstown results at the Algoa Bus Bay Ultra 50km: 10. Thembinkosi Ndyogolo (Nedbank Running Club) 3:22:56 69. Jene Banfield (Run/Walk For Life Athletics Club) 4:13:13 84. Efese Peter (South African National Defense Force, Eastern Cape) 4:21:28 110. Kevin Rafferty (Run/Walk For Life) 4:34:43 269. Richard Hall (Run/Walk For Life) 5:32:31.
