Newsletter

Brought to you by: www.nedbankrunningclub.co.za

23 June 2022

Spar Grand Prix Durban

Nedbank Running Club looking to dominate in Durban

After a complete podium domination in the opening leg of the 2022 Spar Women’s 10km Grand Prix Series in Gqeberha last month, the Nedbank running club will be looking for a repeat, as the team heads down to Durban for this Sunday’s 2nd leg of the series.

It was a fast race in Gqeberha and if form is anything to go by, the Durban event will be even faster. After taking victory in the opening leg in a time of 31:53, Helalia Johannes set what was at the time thought to be a new world record for veterans, only to then find out Australia’s Lisa Weightman had run 31:20 a few weeks earlier. Johannes however turned the tables when earlier this month she finished 2nd in the Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon running a new Namibian national record of 1:07:49 and taking 59 seconds off the veteran’s world record of 1:08:48 which was held by Weightman.

Joining Johannes in Durban will be teammates Tadu Nare and Selam Gebre who were 2nd and 3rd in the opening leg with Gebre only 17 years old and taking the first junior title in the process. Nare is the defending Grand Prix series champion and just like young Gebre, started her international running career as a junior in the Spar Grand Prix series which was at the time won by Johannes before Covid19 swept in and the event was missed in 2020.

In form Irvette van Zyl who is coached by Nedbank running club National team manager Nick Bester also returns to Durban after a quick 1:11:19 earlier this month in Gqeberha. With a personal best of 32:06 which was run in Durban, van Zyl will be looking at a quick run. “I ran my 3rd fastest ever half marathon earlier this month and the focus right now is getting my 10km time quicker before aiming for a fast marathon towards the end of the year,” said van Zyl.

Stella Marais who has also been having a cracking season setting personal bests literally each time she laces up her Nike racing flats, comes into this weekend’s race looking to improve on her 34:22 which was run in Durban in October last year.

With a fast and flat course around the Durban sporting precinct and beachfront, race director Brad Glasspoole is confident of some records being set. The race is all at sea level, with the highest elevation nine meters,” he explained. “It’s an ideal route for in-form runners to break records.”

The race starts and ends in Battery Road, outside Kings Park swimming pool and is one of the few races in South Africa to finish on the road rather than in a stadium. The athletes will line up facing the famous Moses Mabhida Stadium. The first 5kms take the runners on a circuit around Kingsmead Cricket Ground while the second 5kms takes them along Durban’s famous beach front, finishing in front of Kings Park swimming pool.

Johannes holds the quickest Spar ladies 10km series time with her 30:59 being run in 2019, also in Durban. There is no doubt that this weekend’s event will be a fast one, and one where we could see Johannes set a new veterans world record. The 41-year-old is in shape and will be hard to beat.

2022 SPAR GRAND PRIX CALENDAR
Saturday, May 28 - Gqeberha
Sunday, June 26 - Durban
Saturday, July 16 - Mbombela
Saturday, August 6 - Tshwane
Sunday, October 2 - Johannesburg
Sunday, October 23 - Cape Town

National Personalities and Stories

Nedbank running club Comrades training camp in full swing

The sun is about to break over the Kgaswane nature reserve in Rustenburg and there is an icy cold chill in the air, but 6 athletes clad in green Nedbank tracksuits and all in the latest Nike trainers emerge for their morning run. It’s something the group is now accustomed to, as they prepare for the biggest battle of the year, the 2022 Comrades Marathon.

Under the watchful eyes of coach Dave Adams, the group consists of 5 males and 1 female, and the pedigree of the athletes in question is like none other. Defending Comrades Marathon champion Edward Mothibi leads the group with training partners Dan Matshaliwe, Joseph Manyedi, Tete Dijana, Johannes Makgetla and Galaletsang Maekgoe in tow.

Manyedi himself finished 5^th in the last Comrades Marathon whilst Matshaliwe and iron lady Maekgoe will be making their Comrades debuts this year. With Matshaliwe boasting a 2:14 marathon pb, he will be one of the fastest men in the field and Maekgoe’s 7^th place finish in the Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km shows she has the potential to be amongst the top 10.

“All of the team are doing well, and the training has been going to plan,” says Adams of his athletes. Guiding Mothibi to a Comrades win in what was only his second Comrades after a 4^th place debut the year before, Adams knows the winning formula for a race like Comrades. “We won’t be changing much from 2019 when it comes to the training although we have added a long downhill section to the end of our long runs and are also doing strength training exercises because you need the quads to be strong for those last 35km.”

At last weekends Om Die Dam 50km, the team took the race easy, using it as a training run, with Manyedi, a former winner of the race even running in a full tracksuit. “The aim for Om Die Dam was an easy 3:30 finish and that is exactly what the guys did, ending off the week with 170km in the legs. Overall, the guy will start reaching 200km a week and then we will have 4 weeks which will be over 250km.” The amount of mileage these elite athletes run over an 8-week period can sometimes double the amount of mileage many Comrades social runners will cover in a year.

“Towards the end of July, we will all go to Dullstroom for altitude training and will then finish our preparation and come to Durban ready for action,” says a confident coach Adams. Preparing specifically for Comrades since April this year, the team is dedicated to their craft and testament to the fact that talent alone doesn’t beat hard work.

With the Covid19 pandemic having cancelled both the 2020 and 2021 Comrades Marathon’s, a lot of ultra-runners turned to shorter events and honed their speed, as is the case with defending Comrades champion Mothibi who now boasts an impressive 2:13 marathon best. This year’s Comrades could have the potential to be a fast one. “We are not specifically preparing for a fast race, but we are preparing to be fast enough to win,” Adams says with a smile.

50km European record holder from France improves in marathon - The Nedbank Running Club elite runner aims for 100km World Championship title

Three months after his surprising European record over 50km with 2:47:23 hours (set in Port Elizabeth, South Africa), the 24-year-old Frenchman Guillaume Ruel realized a new sporting challenge at the 35th Marathon de la Liberté in Caen in northern France on June 5, 2022.

The young, 1.87m tall runner increased his personal marathon best time to 2:16:49 hours and thus took 2nd place behind the winner Isaac Koech (Kenya), who finished in 2:14:53 hours for the 42km distance. Ruel had reached his previous record in 2021 in Milan with 2:20:52 hours.

At the marathon in Caen he passed the half marathon mark together with the Kenyan in 1:06:23 hours, but had to let the competitor pull away from 23km.

Guillaume Ruel, who had already become French champion over 100km in October 2021 with a time of 6:42:48 hours, had initiated his perspective for larger tasks in Caen:

"I am very satisfied with my competition. I have broken my record, all signs point to green..., this marathon in Caen is clearly a prelude to the upcoming 100km World Championships in Berlin".

Ruel, who runs for the elite team of the Nedbank Running Club in South Africa, will start his altitude training in Font-Romeu from July 2022. After that, he will meet the National France to plan the final preparations for the 100km World Cup. On average, this is about 170 kilometers of running per week. He also said, "I'm going there to win!"

His brother finished 7th in the same marathon (2:27:45 hours), both from a successful family of runners.

Article by: Frank-N. Dietzel

Comrades

2022 Comrades Marathon Substitutions in full swing

The first part of the Comrades Substitution process whereby runners could withdraw from the 2022 Comrades Marathon and offer their entry up for substitution ended yesterday (14 June 2022).

Starting at 10am on Friday, 17 June 2022, athletes still seeking an entry will now have the opportunity to take up those entry slots until 30 June 2022. Based on a first come first serve basis, aspirant runners can go online to www.comrades.com and get their entry in.

The substitution window period will close on 30 June or as soon as the withdrawal cap has been reached. Only a limited number of entries are available so athletes are encouraged to enter as soon as possible.

The substitution entry fee will be the same as per the 2022 entry fee:
•   South Africa                                     : R1200.00
•   Rest of Africa                                   : R2000.00
•   International                                   : R4500.00

Please note that an online transaction fee of 5,6% will be added to entry fee. No late substitutions will be accepted.
An admin fee of 15% of the entry fee will be deducted by the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) from the withdrawing athlete. The CMA will then refund 85% of the entry fee to the withdrawing athlete who is successfully substituted. There will be no money or voucher exchange between athletes.

The 95th Comrades Marathon will be the 47th Down Run on Sunday, 28 August 2022, starting at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall at 05h30 and ending 12 hours later at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, covering a 90,2km distance.