Steyn soars in Dubai

Nedbank running club green dream team athlete Gerda Steyn raced to her second fastest time ever when she took victory in the Supersports 10km night race in Dubai. This forms part of her preparation for the Rak Half Marathon and was done during a heavy week of training.

With a beautiful night setting and a route heading over the iconic Meydan Royal Bridge which in its beauty illuminates at night, the 8pm start time offered athletes a break from the humidity and conditions were great.

“I’m really happy with my run and time, considering that I have been in a heavy training cycle for Rak half with my coach Nick Bester,” said Steyn after the event. “I was really pleased to run 32:33 for the 10km because when you’re in the middle of a training block its often hard to imagine racing when running race pace at any distance feels laborious!”
Coach Bester who is also the national team manager of the Nedbank running club has proven to be a winning combination with Steyn, immensely improving year on year in their 5 years of working together.

“I have been working on staying injury free with emphasis on recovery in between sessions and also making sure that I am well prepared for every workout because its not just performance on the day but all the small building blocks beforehand that count towards achieving your time goals.”

With a personal best time of 1:10:55 coming from last years Rak Half Marathon, Steyn has not indicated what time she will be aiming for, however we can expect that it will be a lot quicker and surely a sub 70 minute clocking could be on the cards.

“In the past, Rak Half used to be part of my plans in preparation for something bigger such as a marathon or Two Oceans, but because of the Covid situation, we decided that Rak Half is a main target race and because it is the most competitive half marathon in the World with so many world record holders and champions taking part, it will definitely once again be a fast one.”

The Rak Half Marathon takes place on 19 February 2021.

Nedbank Running Club star Nare makes Ethiopian Olympic preparation squad

19-year-old Nedbank running club Ethiopia’s Tadu Teshome Nare has been selected to join the Ethiopian national Olympic games preparation squad after participating in the Olympic trials this past weekend in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.

The youngster, who dominated the road running scene in South Africa in 2018 and 2019 is certainly improving as her athletic career furthers. With countless podium finishes in the Spar ladies 10km series and claiming the overall junior title, Nare also took overall victory in the South African Half Marathon championships in 2019.

With South Africa being the first country Nare competed in outside of her home of Ethiopia, 2020 was to be the year that she looked towards Europe, and the year started off well. A big personal best and world class time of 1:09:57 saw the young Nare finish 12th in the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon, also known as the World’s most competitive half marathon.

This time put Nare on the radar of race organizers, however Covid19 and the coronavirus as we now know it, took over the World and the opportunity of racing in Europe fell to the side as races all around the World either got cancelled or postponed.

“That was quite a tough time for Tadu but we told ourselves that everyone is in this same situation so we must just remain positive,” says Belay Hagos, Nedbank Running Club Ethiopia Chairman and Coach. “In Addis we just continued to train to keep the body conditioned and not gain any weight.”

During this time, Nare worked on conditioning and also improving her speed. Over the past weekend, Ethiopia hosted an Olympic trials event where Nare finished 4th in the 1500m. “Now Tadu has been selected to join the Ethiopian national Olympic squad for training and will be in camp with them.” Her dream of competing in Europe is also one step closer now.

“She will be going to Henglo in around June and Ethiopia will host their final trials race for the Olympic team. There she will run in the 10 000m. The aim will be to of course make the team, but we will also be very happy with a big personal best as the race will be very quick.”

Legend Temane joins Nedbank running club

The iconic Matthews Temane who set the South African distance running scene alight in the 1980’s has joined the Nedbank running club to assist in the development side of the team.

The 60-year-old Temane was an athlete ahead of his time. One will never forget the unofficial World record that he ran in Eat London in 1987 in the South African Half Marathon championships. The world record at the time belonged to Kenyan Michael Musyoki with a time of 60:43. Together with the late Zithulele Sinqe, the duo raced head to head at the front of the field before coming down to a sprint finish. Temane pipped Sinqe on the line although both were given the same time of 60:11 which obliterated the World record. Due to South Africa being in isolation, the record could not count.

His career was characterized by his versatility of different distances, which included a 3:55.4 mile at altitude. Temane ended his career with over 17 national titles that included track, cross country and road. He now joins the Nedbank running club development team situated in Klerksdorp where he will assist former Dublin Marathon winner Pio Mpolokeng with the nurturing of South Africa’s future stars.

“It is great that an icon such as Temane has joined forces with the Nedbank running club,” said Nedbank running club national team manager Nick Bester. “His performances speak for themselves and he really was an athlete who was ahead of his time. With his knowledge of the sport, he will instill positivity and knowledge into our development athletes, and we are excited to see it make a difference.”

Reatlegile Mosweu a star of the future

Nedbank running club development athlete Reatlegile Mosweu has developed into a star of the future, ever since joining the Nedbank running club development team back in 2018. With his latest showing over cross country, national colors now look possible.

Under the watchful eye of coach Adam ‘Attie’ Maroko in Kagiso Extension 12, Mosweu finishes up another set of fast speedwork. The 16-year-old may have a bay face and is a very humble and quiet athlete, but don’t let that fool you. Once the racing flats are on, running is where he makes his presence felt.

After finishing 2nd at the Central Gauteng cross country champs over the weekend, Mosweu now sets his sights on the upcoming South African cross country trials which take place on 23 January in Potchefstroom. The aim for this event will be to finish in the top 3 for not only a podium finish but be selected to represent South Africa.

After finishing 3rd in last years South African cross country championships, Mosweu shows that running on these surfaces suits him. In 2019 he also added Central Gauteng school’s cross country champion and Central Gauteng athletics cross country champion to his list of ever growing awards.

“Reatlegile is a very special athlete,” says Siyaya Khoza from the Nedbank running club Soweto. “He attends one of the schools with special educational needs which also saw him take the title over 800m and 1500m for SA schools with special educational needs and is one of the hardest working athletes you will meet.”

With the coronavirus affecting the World, many competitions were either cancelled or postponed, and under strict lockdown rules, club time trials couldn’t even take place due to groups not being allowed. “Since lockdown started, we changed our time trials to virtual ones where athlete would run the distance from where they live. Reatlegile was one of the athletes that have been consistent with these and that put in the hard work to show that it pays.”

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