Pacy relay team close to national record time

A QUARTET consisting of Akani Simbine, Henricho Bruintjies, Gift Leotlela, and Clarence Munyai proved their potential in the 4x100m relay when they clocked the joint second fastest South African time at the Speed Series meeting in Germiston last night.

The four sprinters stopped the clock on 38.47 seconds, 0.12 short of the national record of 38.35 set by Simon Magakwe, Simbine, Ncinci Titi and Bruintjies at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

While hopes of South Africa sending a 4x100m relay team to the World Relays in the Bahamas are waning, the focus will now turn to the IAAF World Championships in London.

“I think we are all pretty happy with the outcome of the race, the important thing was just to get the baton around, run our marks and run to the best of our abilities,” Simbine said.

“We all executed well, we could see with the time, and the little bit of training we’ve done so far, we’ve done quite a good job.”

Simbine has opted out of racing at the World Relays – which clashes with the national championships in Potchefstroom – instead setting his sights on giving South Africans what could be one of the fastest 100m races on home soil.

Bruintjies and Thando Roto, who became the second fastest South African with his recent 100m time of 9.95, have also decided to race in Potchefstroom.

“I’ve decided to stay in South Africa for nationals because I feel I owe it to the locals to watch us race and us giving them a good time,” Simbine said.

“We have a vast amount of athletes running really quick and for me personally we need to be here and give them a show.”

Athletics South African (ASA) held only one relay training camp a few weeks ago with the athletes getting little time to practise their changeovers.

Simbine said the team believed that with more training, they could become a force to be reckoned with on the global stage.