Frans tested after controversial race win in Uitenhage last month
AFTER announcing his arrival on the big stage by upstaging Lusapho April and winning the NMBM 30km Human Race in Uitenhage last month, Eastern Province athlete of the year Melakhaya Frans’s victory has been mired in controversy.
The 27-year-old athlete shattered his personal best time by more than five minutes at the annual race, in one hour, 30 mins and 54 secs, beating April by nine seconds.
But a Twitter debate ensued, with the April camp saying Frans had not been tested for performance-enhancing drugs.
“Innocent until proven guilty but the winner and new national record holder has never been tested in or out of competition,” Perry Benningfield, who manages April, tweeted.
Officials from the South African Institute for Drug Free Sports (SAIDS) arrived in the city on Friday to take blood and urine samples.
“I can confirm that SAIDS officials were in Port Elizabeth and Melakhaya made himself available [for the tests],” EP Athletics spon- sor liaison officer Michael Mbambani, who also coaches Frans, said.
“We said from the beginning we have nothing to hide and welcome the testing.
“We are disgusted by the snide remarks by Perry [Benningfield].
“Melakhaya beat Lusapho fair and square. It was just a case of sour grapes, not as if this was the first time Melakhaya beat Lusapho.
“This [testing] is a big relief for our camp but Perry has a lot to answer for.
“This is not the end,” Mbambani said.
After the race, Frans was unfazed by the controversy.
“As for not being tested it is nonsense,” Frans said.
“I was tested twice, at the SA Championships in 2011 and in 2014 in East London when I finished second behind Lusapho in the Legends Marathon. They can bring it on. I am ready for a test anytime.”
According to Mbambani, the results of the test will be available in a week’s time.
April, who scooped the Sportsman of the Year award at the EC Sport and Recreation Achievers Awards function a week before the race, is the first man to win the Hanover Marathon three times.