Mamorallo Tjoka stands on the brink of rewriting the record books of the Nedbank Soweto Marathon, should she win on Sunday. The Maseru-based athlete will become the first five-time winner in the race's 19-year history.
The diminutive Lesotho athlete will become the undisputed "Queen of Soweto" with five wins under her belt - something that will not easily be bettered.
Her smallest winning margin of two minutes was against Samukeliso Moyo in 2007. Since 1999, only three women have run faster than her 2hrs 47mins set in 2006, and two of those times were not officially recognised by the race officials due to technical infringements.
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Having chalked up wins in 2005, '06, '07 and '08, Tjoka is again the hot favourite to win the race. That is if she has recovered sufficiently from the tough 50km Blue IQ race, which she won just five weeks ago.
The running "rule of thumb" is one day recovery for every kilometre raced; if that rule is followed, she should only be at her best two weeks after Soweto. It is going to be a tough job, but if anybody can pull it off, she can.
The local girls are not expected to trouble the front runners at all, so it will be a straight all-out international duel.
The vast amount of money that sponsors like Nedbank, Old Mutual, Blue IQ and Comrades have put into the sport has meant that athletes are spoilt for choice.
For once, they can pick and choose events to race, but the Soweto Marathon, with a R100 000 first prize, is still the prestigious jewel to win.
Meanwhile, Three Men Named Matthews, a book by Richard Mayer, will be launched after the race at Mugg and Bean at Maponya Mall in Soweto.
The book focuses on the famous South African distance runners who share the same first name - Batswadi, Motsh-warateu and Temane.
It also celebrates the achievements of such athletes as Sydney Maree, Johan Fourie, Mark Plaatjes, Zola Budd and Elana Meyer.
Temane and another running great, Titus Mamabolo, will be on hand to sign copies of the book.
The writer, Mayer, is a practising attorney living in Johannesburg, an active athletics coach and veteran athlete.
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This article was originally published on page 28 of The Star on October 30, 2009
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