April’s third place finish expected’

FORMER New York Marathon winner Hendrick Ramaala said he was not surprised at Lusapho April ’ s unexpected third place finish at the race yesterday.

The 31-year-old April, from Uitenhage in Eastern Cape, finished behind Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai and Ethiopia ’ s Tsegaye Kebede, clocking a time of two hours, nine minutes and 45 seconds.

Mutai, the 2011 champion, won in 2:08.24.

April ’ s time was 17 seconds off 2004 winner Ramaala ’ s best effort at the race, becoming the third South African to make an impact at the race. Willie Mtolo won it in 1992.

“He ’ s been running very well this year, and New York is a tough course where you can ’ t judge the potential winner on whether he has a fast personal best like 2:03,” said Ramaala.

“He was battling for the win and finished in the top three, but I think he has the potential to go all the way.”

The result was a deserved upturn of luck for April, who had to withdraw from this year ’ s World Championships in Russia due to an Achilles tendon injury.

The injury came after what had been a good year for the two-time Two Oceans Marathon champion, who had improved the course record to 2:08.32 in winning his second Hannover Marathon earlier this year.

“Personally, I ’ ve always believed that with hard work we can be there [at the top], Lusapho seems to have found the right recipe this year,” said Ramaala.