Elroy a work in progress

Still locked in a high-mileage training block in the build-up to the event, Elroy Gelant believes he is on the right track to put up a fight against the top East African athletes at the World Cross Country Championships in Kampala, Uganda later this month.

Battling on his own against a strong wind, after the pace setters dropped out in the first half, Gelant opened his season with a solid victory in the men’s 10 000m race during the Speed Series track meeting at Kings Park Stadium in Durban on Tuesday night.

Though he was more than half a minute outside his four-yearold personal best, he was satisfied with his time of 28:16.54.

“I’m still in heavy training because it’s early in the season, and I just wanted to check where I am, more or less, in my preparation,” said Gelant (above), who recently returned from a training camp in Kenya.

Last year, Gelant took a big leap forward in his career, setting a national 5 000m record of 13:04.88 in Hengelo, the Netherlands.

He also took the silver medal at the African Championships in Durban and reached the final of the Rio Olympics.

While admitting he had some work to do to sharpen up for the 10km race at the off-road showpiece, Gelant was confident of challenging for South Africa’s first World Cross Country Championships medal.