Waterfall Metropolis AC runner Zanele Maisa made a triumphant half-marathon debut when she gained the ladies’s 21.1km race on the Benoni Northerns Athletic Membership (BNAC) Marathon on April 13.
It wasn’t the baptism of fireplace the Kwa-Thema resident was anticipating. Actually, it was a race that opened a brand new chapter for the athlete whose solely expertise in athletics consists of monitor, cross-country and a handful of 10km races.
Having skilled to take part within the 10km race, she solely knew on the eve of the BNAC Marathon that she would as an alternative run within the half-marathon. Whereas it was a distance she wasn’t planning to sort out but, it’s a problem she accepted with open arms.
Maisa ran an ideal first half however the hill popping out of the Ebotse Golf and Nation Property was one thing she wasn’t ready for and it was the start of a difficult interval for the runner.
“The primary 10km was simple however I confronted a number of challenges within the second half, however pushed myself to see what time I’d take to finish the race,” she mentioned.
The 29-year previous negotiated her approach up from the hilly part of the path to finally come house alone in 01:26:25. Path runner Marianne Semmelink was a distant second in 01:32:27. Tshegofatso Vocho rounded up the rostrum 35 seconds after Semmelink.
Though Maisa had deliberate a sub-01:20:00, she was happy together with her debut efficiency, saying she’s going to take the teachings in her first yr of highway operating after a profitable interval as a cross-country runner.
“I missed my goal however I completed in 01:26:25, which isn’t unhealthy. It reveals I can enhance and perhaps I may additionally shave off the six minutes and do higher sooner or later,” she mentioned.
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Within the males’s race, Mohau Rasogo of Impala Platinum clocked 01:08:24 for victory. Simphiwe Thombela and Lubabalo Xoza capped off afternoon for Waterfall as they completed second and third, respectively.
Thombela completed 19 seconds off the tempo after crossing the road in 01:08:43, with Xoza rounding-up the rostrum in 01:10:39.
Within the 10km race, Simonay Weitsz, holder of the Benoni Northerns Night time Race ladies’s 10km document, clocked 40:05 for victory within the ladies’s race. Benoni Harriers’ Bronwyn Nel was second in 40:15, whereas Corlize Stoltz of Boxer was third in 40:58.
Fanuel Rasogo and Peter Mothubi shared the lads’s high prize, with Mayibongwe Ndlovu second in 34:09 whereas Tembisa AC’s Desmond Mokgobu clinched the third spot in 34:46.
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