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Kilde: e-post fra G. Kroezen



Loskop Dam, Mpumalanga - Former Olympic marathon champion Josiah Thugwane has surprised everyone, including his team management, by smashing the course record at the 50km Forever Resorts Loskop Marathon at the Loskop Dam in his first ultra distance event.

Thugwane won in 2 hours 44 minutes 03 seconds, almost five minutes faster than second placed Sipho Ncube (2:49.01) with Colin Khoza third in 2:49:41. He broke the course record of 2:44:45 set by Simon Peu in 2003 and won R45000 in prize money and bonuses.

To add to it all, his time through the marathon mark was also the fastest marathon run in South Africa so far this year.

Thugwane's victory was largely accidental. The 1996 Atlanta Olympic champion was only using the event as a training run and had only planned to run to
the 35km mark. But after he opened up a gap of 3 minutes 30 seconds by 30km, and was set to break the record, he decided to continue.

He was only using the event as a training run and had only planned to run to the 35km mark
"They told me on the road that I was on record pace so I decided to keep going," Thugwane said of his first venture beyond the marathon. "But I really felt tired at the 43km mark. My whole body was very tired and the big hill (at 46km) at the end was very tough." Thugwane had no idea what plans his manager had for him in the near future but was circumspect about his future in ultra distance races.

"I could have run faster but I couldn't get anyone to run with me early on," the 34-year-old Thugwane said. "But I think that I am still good over the marathon. I will only look at doing the ultras again once I know I can no longer be good in overseas marathons."

Thugwane lead virtually from the gun although men like defending champion Graham Malinga shadowed him for a while, his pace was clearly too hot for the contenders.

At times the diminutive Thugwane ran backwards imploring the others to run with him. But a strong surge at the 8km broke up the field for good.

Thugwane surged through the half marathon mark in 1:08.48, already 3 minutes ahead of Liberty Nike's Collin Khoza and Harmony's Fani Matshipa.

His time through the marathon mark was also the fastest run in SA for 2006 Amazingly, he continued on to blast through the standard marathon mark in 2:14:37 - a time that is the fastest marathon time run in South Africa so far this year. The previous best was Neo Molema's 2:18:24 run at the Peninsula Marathon in February.

In the women's event, Mr Price's Yolande Maclean got her revenge over last year's second placed Paulina Phaho to win in 3:21.09 with Zimbabwean Chiyedsa Chokore second in 3:26.04.

Phaho, won last year's event in a record 3:17.31, shadowed Maclean for 30km but after suffering from illness last week, faded to third.

"It was quite annoying because Paulina just ran behind me the whole time and paced off me,"

Maclean said. "But I put in some surges on the hills and at 30km she began to fade." On the way, Maclean established a new marathon personal best of 2:47, bettering the 2:50 she ran at the Pick 'n Pay Marathon in February.

Maclean, 27, now has her sights firmly focused on the Comrades Marathon on June 16, and then intends working hard to better her marathon time and running the New York marathon.

Just over 4900 runners competed in the 20th running of the event. - Sapa