Two Oceans star to be the one to beat

ONE of the country's best long distance runners Lungile Gongqa will be headlining the inaugural Africa Day Half Marathon which will be battled out from the Jan Smuts Stadium tomorrow morning.

Gongqa recently won the Two Oceans Marathon and is arguably the biggest name to have confirmed his participation.

“It is wonderful to see that Lungile will be racing here on Sunday,” said race organiser Alex Kambule.

“He is not the only top runner that we are expecting, as I have heard from a number of runners who, because of the money on offer, want to remain anonymous and be a surprise package on the day.”

With a good field expected, action is set to be fierce. However Kambule believes there will also be other motivation for the runners as well.

“It is going to be a very good race, I can vouch for that,” claimed Kambule.

“There will be some good runners involved, the prize money is very good so I think we will have some of the top runners in the country involved.

“It is great that this race will be here for quite some time.

“If I don't manage to run this year I will definitely be at the next edition.”

A host of top local runners will definitely be looking to impress in their home run and they will certainly use their knowledge of the area to their advantage.

The 21.1km run will head off from the Jan Smuts to the IDZ along Settlers way and back with the 10km following the same route but turning back half way. The 5km fun run will go from the Jan Smuts down to the beach front and back, so all three runs are expected to be quite quick.

The running gets under way at 7am tomorrow morning with the 21.1km run, while the 10km sets off at 7.15am and the 5km fun run heading off at 7.30am.

R12 0000 prize money in total is up for grabs in the 21.km and 10km races, with the grand prize of R20 000 each for the first male and female over the line in the main race.