Leapfrog Gordon’s Bay Half marathon (WP Championships)
Held in cold wet and atrocious weather conditions, the Leapfrog Gordon’s Bay half marathon was relatively successful.
Compared to the 376 entrants in the Inaugural race of last year, the 818 finishers of this year braved the very cold, wet and windy conditions. Initially expecting between 1000 and 1500 entrants , the organizers had to face this race without our Muslim friends who were celebrating the first day of Ramadan and therefore could not participate. Our wiser friends and athletes who decided to stay in the warmth of their beds, while the die hards braved the scenic and flat course in the cold , wet and windy weather.
The winner of this years race, Mthandazo Qhina of Nedbank Running club was first in a time of 1hr 09min and 23 seconds , followed by his team mate and friend Pumlami Nxusani in a time of 1hr 10mins and 02 seconds. Michael Bailey of Asics VOB was third in a time of 1hr 10 minutes and 54 seconds.
In the ladies race , Ulrica Stander of New Balance was way too strong for the rest of the Ladies field finishing in a Personal Best time of 1 hr 13 minutes and 51 seconds , with Bulelwa Simae second in 1hr 17minutes and 33 seconds and Claire Horner third in a time of 1hr 24minutes and 40 seconds.
The race will be held again next year on the 20th July and we are looking forward to an even greater field with more than 1000 entrants.
The fun run was not very well supported and obviously the weather had a bearing on the outcome of this run/ walk.
I want to thank the sponsors, the local Gordon’s Bay community , my fellow helpers and the Strand Athletic Club for all the valued support for this event.
Source: Lester Burrow
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