The Overtakers Athletic Club delivered another interesting Women’s Day half-marathon and 10km race schedule with an important, close-to-equal balance of numbers between the sexes.
Given the significance of the day, we look first at the women’s half-marathon, which was convincingly won by one of Border’s most consistent runners.
Caryn Lategan (Easy Equities Born2Run) finished in 87:42 to take both the overall race and the veteran 40+ category.
In second place was Lategan’s sister, Lauren Ranger (Born2Run), in 91:15, and she was also the second 40+ runner. They were followed home by Caroline Toich (Old Selbornians) in 91:33.
Toich was sandwiched between the three top veteran athletes, with Easy Equities Born2Run’s Andrea Ranger making up the top four.
Behind the veteran runners were the three 35-39 runners — Effe Mayo (Nedbank), Kirsty Watson (independent) and Roxy Ward (Old Selbornians) with times of 1:48:28, 1:48:33 and 1:49:27 respectively.
The top 50+ masters runner, Carol Tinhoff (Old Selbornians), won convincingly in 1:54:26, followed by Caroline Swart (Oxford Striders) and Riana Kay (Buffalo Road Runners).
Tinhoff’s teammate, Sharon Bosch, was first in the 60+ category with a 2:01:46, with Alison Fouche (Oxford Striders) second and Soraya Abdurahman (Easy Equities Born2Run) third.
Imange Norayase (Boxer) was the first junior in 1:49:41, with Holliegh Willis (independent) second.
Ntsebenzo Nake (Phantane, Durban) ran impressively, winning the men’s half-marathon in a new record of 68:26.
He was two minutes and seven seconds ahead of second-placed Sinethemba Jilingisi (Real Gijimas), while Owen Tshibo (Hollywood) was third, 2:38 adrift.
The top 35+ athletes were Gift Chigomararwa (Achilles) in 73:27, Thandikhaya Siyongo (Scenery Park) second in 74:16, and Tian Jacobs (Easy Equities Born2Run) third in 79:26.
The veteran men’s 40-49 category was won by Simphiwe Majiki (Young Stars Academy) in 78:41, with Bradley Birkholtz (Easy Equities Born2Run) second in 79:27 and Brian Botha (Haven Hills) third in 81:16.
Nedbank’s Siyabulela Madlavana won the masters 50+ race from clubmate Christophe Bernardie in 86:38 and 86:46 respectively, while Clinton Hayward (Old Selbornians) was third in 90:44.
In the 60+ category, Mzoli Mpalala (Hollywood) beat clubmate Mfundo Nobavu into second place, with Colin Bosch (Old Selbornians) third.
The women’s 10km race was won convincingly by Cindy Nel (Easy Equities Born2Run) in a new record of 40:03, eclipsing that of Andrea Ranger by eight seconds.
In second place was Mbali Tube (Real Gijimas), two minutes and one second off the pace, while Angelique Norton (Oxford Striders) followed in 42:51.
The first junior in was Kuviwe Simon (Boxer) in 43:25, the first veteran was Carina Basset (Oxford Striders) in 46:28, the first masters was 50+ runner Michelle Conroy in 45:37, and the first 60+ was Annette Meyer (Gonubie Harriers).
Luyolo Ngcongolo (Powered up Runners) won the men’s race in 31:19. He took one minute off the race record of 31:19 held by Jilingisi.
Second was the exciting junior runner, Endinako Mpondo (Brac), just two seconds off the winner, while a further 15 seconds later, third-placed Lilitha Xengxe (Real Gijimas) finished third.
The first 35+ runner into the finish was Awonke Bungu in 32:51, while Nkosinathi Nzingo (Oxford Striders), Fungile Kowa (Correctional Services) and Makaya Masumpa (Easy Equities Born2Run) won the 40, 50 and 60+ categories respectively in 33:47, 43:06 and 40:04.