Cape Town – South African distance extraordinaire Stephen Mokoka missed the world-best time over 12km by the narrowest of margins but smashed the national mark by 49 secs at the FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN.
Mokoka was in unstoppable form missing the world-best time by three seconds crossing the line in 33.34 minutes with Kenyan Daniel Salel following a second behind him for second place.
He broke iconic distance runner Matthews “Loop-and-Val” Motshwarateu’s 28-year-old record of 34:23 he set in Spokane, Washington.
Elroy Gelant, who combined well with Mokoka and a handful of South African athletes, dropped back with 800 metres to go finishing third with a time of 33.42.
It was a case of déjà vu for Salel getting pipped at the finishing line following a sprint against the versatile South African.
Defending champion, Kenya’s Emmanuel Bett, who edged Salel by photo finish in 2015 had to be content with sixth place with a time of 34.31.
At the 7km mark a lead bunch still consisted of about eight athletes before Mokoka and Gelant broke away after 8km with Salel joining them.
Salel went through 10km in 28.02 minutes flanked by the two South African runners.
Continuing her domination in local road running, Irvette van Zyl claimed the women’s title with Lebo Phalula crossing the line in second place in 40.10 with Zimbabwean Rutendo Nyahora bagging the bronze clocking 40.31.
“Before we reached 10km I made a little move, and Elroy responded quickly, and he said it was good, so when he said that I felt confident,” Mokoka said.
“We kept pushing, and at this point it was an even split from the previous 5km but the tough one was on the hill. On the home straight I was with him (Salel) and with 50 metres I realised I can sprint harder because I still had a lot in the tank. In the sprint I passed him and I was very happy.”
Before the race Mokoka called on South African distance runners to work closer together during races, and on Sunday the local athletes seemed to band together as four of the top-five finishers were from this country.
“Normally when we are in the same race I run alone we don’t run hard but I think what triggered it was the international athletes that were here,” Mokoka said.
“We need more races like the Cape Town 12km, so that we can work on our speed because there is no way we can beat these guys in the half-marathon if you don’t have speed. If we more races like this where we encourage the shorter distances, we can go far.”
Van Zyl admitted it was a “tough race” running with a slight head cold and with Phalula taking the initial lead she did not think she would finish.
“At 6km I caught her, and thought ‘what is going on?’ which encouraged me to hold on and at 7km she sounded tired so I moved 1km later,” Van Zyl said.
“I knew my body wasn’t up for the South African record, but I am happy that I could win today and I didn’t expect it at all.”