Mamorallo Tjoka overcame a recent injury and windy conditions on her way to claiming gold at this year’s Totalsports Women’s Race in Johannesburg.
The women-only race saw thousands of entrants brave the tough conditions to run, walk, skip, or whatever they pleased in aid of PinkDrive, a non-profit company (NPC) that is committed to improving breast cancer awareness through education. PinkDrive was also present at the Totalsports Women’s Race in Johannesburg, offering free clinical breast examinations and educating people about the importance of breast self-examination.
Mamorallo was on a mission, however, and wanted to finish the 10km race in the best time her legs would allow.
“I entered the Totalsports Women’s Race because I wanted to celebrate with thousands of women,” said Mamorallo. “I also wanted to test my fitness. I am very happy with my win today. It’s nice to see that my fitness is back. I will definitely be back next year.”
Mamorallo managed to cross the finish line at Mary Fitzgerald Square (Newtown) in an impressive time of 34 minutes and 33 seconds, only 35 seconds ahead of second place Glenrose Xaba, who had won the Durban edition of the race little more than a week earlier.
“I wasn’t able to run as fast as I wanted to due to the windy weather conditions,” said Mamorallo. “I’ve also just come back from injury and wasn’t sure what my fitness would be like. Glenrose and I ran together until the 7km mark, and then I made a move. I knew that I didn’t have enough speed and that Xaba would be too fast for me at the finish.”
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