#Run4Avos

Next week Wednesday 2 August is the official media launch of the Nedbank Run4Avos Challenge and we would like you to join if you can,  wearing your green running gear. It will be followed by launches in DBN (15th August), PTA (17th August) & CPT (31st August) and we have a chance to show how awesome CGA is.

Please also remember to join the Strava group to win some prizes for completing and logging a 5km run (more information  and T&Cs in the group)

https://strava.app.link/UUIkxtQYGBb

I'm able to make a difference in the lives of people that I coach'

- Dave Adams tells us his story

After guiding Tete Dijana to a second successive Comrades Marathon victory in the fastest ever Down Run time this year, Dave Adams has written himself into the history books as one of the country's most successful ultra distance coaches. And perhaps what's even more remarkable about the 69-year-old is that he is a self taught mentor who discovered his passion for coaching through running.

"As a runner myself I used to read up on my sport," said the man who ran his last Comrades in 2011. "I was the one drawing up the programs for my group. I worked on the mines (Impala Platinum) and was involved with a relay team on the shaft where I worked. That's where I started coaching club runners from about 2006. I started helping an elite athlete at the end of 2011, a guy by the name of Phillip Molefe. Molefe won a number of races in 2012 including the Loskop 50km Marathon in 2:46:07. Towards the end of 2012 I was approached by Impala Mine to put together a team that could win The Gunga Din Trophy at Comrades. This was following an article in the mining news where a team from the shaft where I worked had achieved 4 silver medals."

That was to be the beginning of a decade long journey that would see the man who ran ten Comrades races himself achieve unprecedented success at The Ultimate Human Race. At the 2022 race Adams's charges achieved six gold medals as Dijana, Edward Mothibi and Dan Matshialwe swept the podium with Johannes Makgetla and Joseph Manyedi in positions five and seven, while Galaletsang Mekgoe took fifth in the women's race to became the the first black South African woman since Farwa Mentoor to earn a top five finish at the country's most celebrated ultra marathon. But for Adams it all started with David Gatebe back in 2012.

"A few weeks after I met David in 2012 we went to the Soweto marathon where David ran 2:42. Gordon Lesetedi, who also started with me in 2011, ran 2:46 in the same race. David’s first big race with me after a block of training was Two Oceans Marathon in 2013," he told #TheTopRunner. Gatebe won the 44th running of the 56km race in 3:08:54 to announce himself to the ultra distance running world.

Now retired from his professional career on the mines, Adams spends most of his time coaching top runners which he says is a good way to keep himself busy and goal orientated. And even though Gatebe and Adams would part ways in 2016 before the diminutive runner broke the Comrades Down Run record, Adams still counts Gatebe's Two Oceans victory as one of the most memorable achievements of his coaching career alongside the dominant display of ultra marathon running by his Nedbank Running Club charges at Comrades 2022 and 2023.

"It is difficult to pick out one moment that is the most satisfying because there are so many of them. The most memorable have to be Edward Mothibi winning Comrades 2019, after years of hard work; Comrades 2022 and Tete Dijana and Edward Mothibi taking the Comrades marathon record from David Gatebe which was a team performance once again. The most satisfying part of coaching is that I am able to make a difference in the lives of the people that I coach. Running made a big difference in my life and coaching keeps me involved in the sport," he explained.

Coach Dave Adams' advice for social runners looking to excel during the 2024 ultra marathon season:

For social runners who want to improve their performance I would recommend the following:

- follow a well structured program that has a build up in March and peaks in April/May.

- get out of your comfort zone: incorporating some speed training such as fartleks or interval training will give you more benefit than slogging out endless hours at an easy pace.

- find yourself a hill 300m to 500m, medium steepness, and do hill repeats once per week in your program. Start with two hill repeats and build up to six or eight. Learn to love the hills!

- do at least one long run of more than 60km.

Article by Mosibodi Whitehead

TADU NARE LIKELY HEADING FOR ANOTHER SERIES WIN IN THE SPAR GRAND PRIX

The four-races-to-count rule works in her favour

Mbombela, Mpumalanga, South Africa: With four of the six 2023 SPAR Grand Prix races completed, defending champion Tadu Nare, (Nedbank Running Club, Ethiopia) is well-positioned to collect her third title in a row. Even though she is currently in fourth place, 16 points adrift of Grand Prix leader Selam Gebre (Nedbank Running Club, Ethiopia), Nare can take advantage of the rule that the final points table includes only the top four results of the season. While Gebre has run all four races so far, Nare has done only three, scoring a maximum 30 points each time. Another 30-pointer in either Tshwane of Johannesburg will give her an unassailable 120 points at the end of the season.

While 30 points is not automatically awarded for a win – 10 bonus points accrue only if the runner achieves the target time for the two inland races, in this case sub-34:40 for the 10km distance - Nare’s track record over the past three seasons suggests that achieving this in at least one race is likely.

After four consecutive second-place finishes so far, Gebre looks likely to finish at least second at the end. Only Nare can beat her.

The battle for the next two places is less certain. Glenrose Xaba (Boxer AC) has 96 points, six clear of Blandina Makatisi (Maxed Elite, Lesotho), but Makatisi beat Xaba in Mbombela and could chip away at her lead. But with effectively only a single race to count (both athletes have completed all four  races so far,) it is likely that Xaba, South Africa’s most consistent distance runner for the past three years, will finish third.

A similar situation holds in the battle for fifth place where Cacisile Sosibo (Boxer AC) is on 75 points with rival Kesa Molotsane (Murray and Roberts AC) on 71. Both runners have done all 4 races.

The Sosibo/Molotsane competition has additional relevance in terms of the substantial prize money available to the top South African runners. With Xaba likely to end up top, the difference in prizes between second and third place adds more spice to the final two races.

The most intense competition has happened in the 50–59-year age category, where Janene Carey (Phantane AC) is on level-pegging with Ronel Thomas (Boxer). Both have won two races so far, finishing runner-up in the other two. With the final two races both being held at altitude, Thomas, who lives in Tshwane, may have a slight advantage.

Judy Bird (Boxer AC) continues to exert a total stranglehold on the 60+ age category. Bird has a perfect score of 40 points after four immaculate bonus points victories.

Finally, in the most wide-open category, 40-49 years, Simone Botha (Boxer AC) is the only runner to have competed in more than one race and has 11 points to her credit. Makhosi Mahlangu (Hollywood AC) is lying second with 10 points after scoring a bonus points victory in Durban.

In the club competition, Boxer AC is the runaway leader with 445 points to Nedbank RC’s 289. Hollywood AC has 108.

NMB EP CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

The NMB EP Cross Country Championships took place in perfect weather conditions on Saturday, 22 July, on a

freshly cut track at Nelson Mandela University.

The Championships was the climax of the NMB Four-Series Cross Country Season with a superb turnout of over 600 athletes competed for qualifying times and selection into the EPA Cross Country team for the SA Cross Country Championships.

All age groups in both the 10km and 4km events competed fiercely for the sought-after medals which were awarded after the event.

EP Athletics cross country chairperson, Attie Williams, was thrilled with the season’s results and the support of the athletes.

“Fast times were the order of the day, and we are looking forward to a very competitive SA Cross Country Championship at Nelson Mandela University on Saturday, 16 September,” reported Attie.

“Within the next couple of days, the Selection Committee will convene to select the team that will represent the province at the SA Championships.

“Road Running has set an example for the other commissions during the recent SA Half Marathon Championships and Cross Country has set their sights on maintaining the upwards curve of the province at national level.

“The EPA Local Organizing Committee is looking forward to leading by example for other provinces by hosting world class events with the support and sponsorship of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality,” added Williams.

The 10km race was won by Cwenga Nose, running for Ikhamva athletics club, in a time and excellent time of 31.56, with Andile Motwana, of Nedbank running club, in second place in 32.25, followed by Sicelo Mashaba of Madibaz, in third position in 32.37.

Kelly van Vliet, of Nedbank running club, was the first woman to finish the 10km in 41.30, followed by team-mate Refiloe Solomons,  in 42.41. Asanda Zamisa, of Madibaz, finished third in 44.32.

Nedbank running club took the top three places in the 4km race, Andile Motwana, led the charge and won in an excellent time of 12.19, followed by team-mates, Gift Chigomarawa, in 12.43 and Sinethemba Mirele, in third position, in 13.05.

Kayla Nell, of Charlo running club, was once again the first woman to finish the 4km in 15:02, followed by team-mate Dane Cronje, in 17.28, with Georgina Davidson, of Nedbank running club, in third position in 19.16.

Full Medal results on www.epathletics.co.za

Great offer free of charge to all Nedbank Running Club athletes feeling sick and is living in the Gauteng and Pretoria area

Respiratory infections in physically active individuals

SEMLI (Sport, Exercise Medicine & Lifestyle Institute) at the University of Pretoria sports campus is busy researching how respiratory infections (eg colds, flu, sinusitis, etc.) affect people's ability to exercise and the potential negative effects of exercising while ill.

They are offering free-of-charge medical consultations and tests (including blood tests, lung function test, ECG) to any physically active person that becomes ill with a suspected respiratory infection, providing that they consent that their information be allowed to be used for research.

Your weekly Nedbank RunnersGuide Race Review. Looking ahead to the weekend 26 and 27 August. Road running events featured weekly giving support to Runnersguide.co.za. This week we look ahead to the Halls Gateway to the Lowveld Half Marathon and the Wanderers Half Marathon and 10 kilometre Road Race.