Kesa keeps her cool, stays on course for title
JOHANNESBURG: Dressed in the blue of her running club, Kesa Molotsane raced to the finish line to win the fifth leg of The Spar Women’s 10km Challenge in Pietermaritzburg yesterday. The KMPG athlete clocked 34:21 with Ruthendo Nyahora 13 seconds behind and Irvette van Zyl finishing third in 34:37
The Athletes braved the chilly weather and took to the hilly course in pursuit of a victory.
“The race was really nice for me. I love hills. I come from a hilly place. My body responded well,” said Molotsane, who hails from the Free State.
Van Zyl started strongly with a solo run from two kilometres but it wasn’t long before other runners caught up with her.
“I wanted to try my best, because I’m in a difficult space. I’m behind with points on the Grand Prix and I knew what I had to do to get more points”, said Van Zyl
“I wanted to run a bonus point and my plan worked, but unfortunately I finished third,” said the reigning Grand Prix champion.
At five kilometres the 30-year-old Van Zyl and Lebogang Phalula – who finished fourth – were running neck and neck with Moletsane just behind them and the trio continued until 6km where they were
I wanted to try my best, because I’m in a difficult space. I’m behind with points on the Grand Prix and I knew what I had to do to get more points,” said Van Zyl
joined by Nyahora. Van Zyl looked like she was going to take it, but things turned out badly as Molotsane and Nyahora passed her just after 8km and finished ahead of her.
Zimbabwean Nyahora said she felt like giving up at halfway, but she told herself to keep going on.
“The race was fine. I felt like my race was done, but I told myself that two weeks ago I was doing 42 km and this is 10km, so I pulled up my socks because I had 6kms to go”, said Nyahora.
“My aim was to finish in the top three,” Nyahora, who competed in thre marathon at the recent IAAF World Championships, added
Molotsane was supposed to be in Taipei with the South African team for the Student Games, but had to ask for special permission so that she could take part in yesterday’s race.
“I used this race as a test because I had to see how far am I with my fitness. I really need to prove myself that I deserve to be on the team and make my country proud”, said the 25-year-old Molotsane.
“Being here is actually a blessing that I could test myself before I joined the rest of the team,” continued Molotsane. who jetted off to Taipei after the race.
Molotsane will run the 5000m heats on Friday with the final on Sunday.
Molotsane is highly favoured to win the Grand Prix as she had 107 points before this race and Van Zyl was on 88 points. The last leg of the Grand Prix is in Johannesburg in October.