Athletes brave cold weather

WELCOMING men’s month with a bang, Central Gauteng Athletics’ sixth cross-country league took place on Saturday, July 2 in Westonaria Sports Complex and not even the cold put athletes off working on their 2016 season goals.

Having done two leagues in a row and winning both of them, Sibusiso Nzima from Nedbank Running Club was quite impressed with his performance and said that he was ready for the Rio Olympic Games. He confirmed this after he clocked 29:16 in the 10km event on Saturday. He is now going to take it easy to avoid injuries. The SA half-marathon championships will serve as his last event of preparation before heading to Brazil for the Olympics next month. Based on his performance, he is confident that he will come back with a medal from Rio.

Another star in the making, Samuel Mathabatha (23) of Rockies AC and CGA cross-country 4km 2015 champion said he aims to defend his title this year and hopefully become the 4km champion in this year’s SA championships in George. He finished first on Saturday, clocking 11:31 and says he enjoys cross-country more than any other running discipline.

Agreeing with Samuel on this is junior athlete Kabelo Seboko (17) from Lydiard AC, who has been performing well this season. He finished first on Saturday, clocking 24:15. His goals are to be CGA junior champ and he is confident this is possible seeing that he has had a great season thus far.

A veteran, George Mooi of Gallopers AC, won his category event and he is also excited about the upcoming CGA Championships in August. He’s aiming to be this year’s champ after a great season.

Credit: CGA

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