SA Marathon Champs, Oudtshoorn, SWD, 3 February
A small, select field of 109 athletes lined up for the 2013 edition of the SA Marathon Champs, which this year was hosted by Athletics South Western Districts in Oudtshoorn, and the highlight of the day was undoubtedly 24-year-old Cornelia Joubert of Central Gauteng becoming SA’s youngest ever female marathon champ – in her first ever marathon, having never raced longer than 32km before!
With defending women’s champion Charne Bosman withdrawing in order to focus on her preparation for the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon in March, the women’s title was up for grabs, but Cornelia’s victory was still a big surprise. She tracked the leading ladies for the first half of the race, then took the lead with 20km to go raced away to clock 2:46:13. Her teammate Kim Laxton was second in 2:47:25, while KZN’s Melanie van Rooyen took third in 2:48:35. Cornelia has recently hired a coach, so watch this space for more from this future star!
In the men’s race, defending champ Coolboy Ngamole of Central Gauteng was the pre-race favourite, but Benedict Moeng of Gauteng North won comfortably in 2:17:32, with Lucky Mohale next home in 2:19:38 and Coolboy having to settle for third in 2:21:39. Benedict’s winning time was unfortunately 32 seconds short of the men’s qualifying time for the World Champs in Moscow in August, and our athletes will have to pick up their times if they want to get to Russia.
Men
1 Benedict Moeng (AGN) 2:17:32
2 Lucky Mohale (CGA) 2:19:38
3 Coolboy Ngamole (CGA) 2:21:39
4 Anthony Godongwana (AGN) 2:21:49
5 Othaniel Phahlane (AGN) 2:22:14
Women
1 Cornelia Joubert (CGA) 2:46:13
2 Kim Laxton (CGA) 2:47:25
3 Melanie van Rooyen (KZNA) 2:48:35
4 Suzette Botha (KZNA) 2:49:38
5 Caroline Wostmann (AGN) 2:53:35