Simphiwe Thomas takes the women’s title of the junior 5km run
Simphiwe Thomas sprinted to the finish line at 0:28:03 time and took the win for the 5km run.
A young athlete from Kelvin near Alexandra Simphiwe Thomas (16) won the U18 5km race for juniors when she sprinted to the finish line at Alex Plaza Shopping Centre.
Thomas said winning the race was the best feeling ever because she always feels motivated to do more and win more to make herself and her family proud.
“This was not an easy race at all but I feel so happy that I won and to have been able to compete against so many other strong runners,” she said.
Her passion for running started when she was doing Grade 8 in 2022. Her mother used to take her to the club every morning and she fell in love with this sport.
“Nothing inspired me to be a runner I guess it’s in my veins. I used to run during our Life skills classes at school, and later I then entered school racing competitions and joined the Run Alex Athletics Club when it was founded,” she said.
Simphiwe always makes time for running no matter how much school work she has because she believes that running helps her to release the stress brought by books.
“No matter how busy I am I always make time for running because it helps to release stress and I want to train myself and make my dream of running for the Joburg team come true. My schoolwork is not affected by my hobby because I always do my homework during break hours at school,” she added.
Even though there were challenges throughout the race, Simphiwe said what kept her going was that there were people who knew her and her capabilities she did not want to be seen as a quitter when the athletic borne is still present in her body.
“The challenge I faced was a hill which is the final hill we ran. I expected that there would be more of them but when I saw the finishing line, I was like we are done already and that is when I put more effort and speed to finish with power like coach Ronny always says.
“I would like to make it into the Joburg team and improve my skills across the country,” Simphiwe said.
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