Marathon man Mokoka is up against East Africa

SOUTH AFRICA’s leading marathoner, Stephen Mokoka is in top form at the moment but he will have to be at his best to ward off the East African challenge at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in September.

Mokoka won the national half marathon championships in Port Elizabeth last weekend, has his sights set on victory in September and remains the fastest in the field, boasting a marathon best of 2:07:40. He will be up against a number of talented young African runners bent on following in the footsteps of twice champion, Ethiopian Asefa Negewo, who placed seventh in the London Marathon after winning the Cape Town Marathon in 2016.

Twenty-four-year old Kenyan, Albert Korir has run faster than 2 hours 9 minutes in his last three marathons, winning in Vienna last year and running a personal best of 2:08:17 in placing second to fellow-Kenyan, Macharia Ndirangu, at the high-profile Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan four months ago. He will likely target Negewo’s course record of 2:08:41 and produce a personal best on his own continent.

Another Kenyan, Kipsang Kipkemoi, started his marathon career winning the Kilimanjaro Marathon and has made good progress, with a best time just nine seconds slower than Koriri’s.

The quality of the Cape Town Marathon could no longer be ignored by South Africa’s athletics bosses, and ASA yesterday announced their decision to link the national marathon championships to Cape Town. “We are pleased to confirm that the Cape Town Marathon will host the national championship for the next three years,” ASA road running head, James Moloi said. “We are proud that the championships will now be part of Africa’s leading marathon, ensuring that the country’s leading athletes will take part.

“And we will be using this year’s marathon as our first selection race for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.”