Battle of wits ups Mile stakes

THE running at the second annual Puma Run-a-Mile in East London on Saturday was for the most part quite scintillating with many a race going down to the wire.

The runners were clearly having fun, but the spectator enjoyment was most evident as they cheered the runners on.

There were some excellent performances among the junior men when Monde Polisiti of Oxford Striders and Nathan le Roux in the colours of the hosts, Born 2 Run (B2R), went head-to-head.

Le Roux lost a good few seconds when he went inside of a stationary car and Polisiti took the outside line giving him the edge in a very closely fought race. The winning margin was a tad over two seconds on a winning time of 4:29:36.

Elne Owen of B2R was a comfortable winner of the junior women’s event.

In the open women’s category Cindy Schwulst of Elac ran strongly to beat B2R’s Stephanie Smith who was followed by her clubmate Rachel Petersen. Schwulst ran 5:16:64.

Zolani Ngqaqa, Amos Nyango and Luthando Hejana were at it for the senior men’s title and finished in that order.

In the age categories Sharon Wood of Buffs pipped Tracy Hanner of Run Walk for Life by two seconds while B2R’s Makaya Masumpa beat Dominic Lahoud who was impressive but six seconds adrift of the seasoned campaigner.

In the masters Alison Langtree and Pat Norris both of Born2Run were first and second while Themba Bhelwana of Oxford Striders and Simon Ngxeke of B2R finished similarly.

The pick of the grandmasters were Michelle Whittington of Old Selbornians, Graham Kumm, John Liesching and Arthur Brindley. — DDC