UGANDA’S Stephen Kissa and young sensation Ryan Mphahlele are guaranteed to put on a show in Durban on Sunday, 14 October when they return to take on the 2nd annual FNB Durban 10K CITYSURFRUN.
Making his debut on the road over 10km at the inaugural race last year, Kissa ran 28:05 for second place (behind Joshua Cheptegei). While still a junior, Mphahlele ran 33:37. Both will be back this year. Both have improved immensely and both should give spectators and fans something to look forward to come 14 October.
Kissa has already fired some warning shots with an incredibly consistent track season culminating in a new personal best over the 5000m of 13:10.93 in Lausanne (Switzerland) in July. Mphahlele on the other hand, made his debut over 5000m in September this year clocking 14:00.09 in what was effectively a time trial for the 20-year-old with no real opposition. It is however, the fastest 5000m run in South Africa this year.
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Kissa has been in training since his track season came to an end at the Africa Championships in Assaba. His season is however, very similar to that of 2017 where upon completion of the track season in August, he went back into training to prepare for the road season. The result was his 28:05 in his first road race of the year. Now with a new personal best in the 5000m, one can expect Kissa to go under 28 minutes, not an unrealistic expectation.
Mphahlele’s season followed a very similar route. His track season came to an end in July, a season that saw personal bests clocked in the 800m, 1500m, mile and 3000m. Mphahlele went back into training to prepare for the South Africa Cross Country Championships in September where he annihilated a quality field in the U23 4km race. Shortly after that came the 5000m personal best, showing that he is gearing up to perfect form for the race and is confident that he will run under 29 minutes.
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