Lisa stars in SA 100km World Champs success
The uMhlanga resident won a silver medal at (IAU) 100km World Championships in Sveti, Croatia recently.
LISA Collett was one of the stars at this year’s International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) 100km World Championships in Sveti, Croatia recently.
The uMhlanga resident alongside, Salome Cooper, Bongmusa Mthembu and Fikile Mbuthuma played vital roles in both the South African men’s and women’s teams claiming respective silver medals at the biennial event.
Collett finished 19th at the event behind Mbuthuma (14th) and Cooper (seventh) in a time of in 8:06:14.
The consistency from the women’s team saw them come second behind Japan and ahead of hosts Croatia in third.
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Collett explained the women’s team decided to run the race as a team and in order to medal had to finish under 24 hours combined. Through their efforts they managed to finish in a combined time of 23:56:44.
“I think we didn’t feel we had much of a chance to medal individually so we decided to run the event as a team. Looking on previous years finished under 24 hours would give us a chance which would mean finishing around the eight hour mark which was quite a big ask,” she said.
“We were well supported by Athletics South Africa (ASA) and had the best team coaches available and they set us up really well in terms of race strategy. We decided what pace we could hold and managed to run for 60 kilometres as team before we made the breaks, but each of us supported each other which was incredible.
Collett said she was proud of her efforts considering the race took place just three months after the gruelling Comrades Marathon.
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“I’m proud and overwhelmed with what we achieved. I’ve never had the sense of joy that I had hearing we’d won silver. Comrades is a wonderful event but it is a selfish race in that you run it for yourself. However in this event, we were running on behalf of South Africa.
“I’m not sure how to explain it but running for your country, there’s something deep inside you that just drives you more than just a personal goal would. Doing the 100 kilometres race just a few months after Comrades is not easy to conquer and we pushed ourselves for a greater cause,” she explained.
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