Defending champion Mosiako set to take on course record holder Nkhasi
FNB Joburg 10K CITYRUN will take place on September 24.
Defending champion, Thabang Mosiako, will take on the course record holder, Namakoe Nkhasi in the 2018 version of the FNB Joburg 10km CITYRUN on September 24.
Nkhasi blew away the favourites in the inaugural race in 2016, showing the likes of Stephen Mokoka, Elroy Gelant and Sibusiso Nzima, a clean pair of heals, scorching to a winning time of 29:48 on a course that takes no prisoners. A year later the unfancied Mosiako went with Stephen Mokoka after 5km and then with 2km to go on the long downhill to the finish at Mary Fitzgerald Square, put on the afterburners and dropped the fancied Mokoka to win by almost 30 seconds (29:51 to 30:15) and narrowly missing the course record held by Nkhasi.
Mosiako and Nkhasi are back in 2018 to offer a duel that could be of the most intense battles seen in South African road running. Both athletes have a propensity for tough courses, and the FNB Joburg 10K CITYRUN is tough. Neither athlete fears taking the race to their more fancied counterparts and both are looking to end 2018 with a bang.
“I like the tough courses, the hills, I am strong on them. So the FNB Joburg 10K CITYRUN is a course that suits me,” says Mosiako. “I am racing the SA Cross Country Championships in PE on September 8 in the 10km to try and secure my place at the World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, so I have been training hard for the national championships. That training will suit me well for Joburg, as cross-country training is tough and you need to do a lot of strength-based training, which will come in good stead to defend my title.”
Nkhasi was being a bit cagey about his chances. The Lesotho athlete was eight in the half marathon at the Nelson Mandela Day Marathon, clocking 64:02 on a course that sees a steady climb 15km to the finish. “I wasn’t marked in 2016 when I won. Now the athletes know I like tough courses, so they watch me more carefully. It will be tough.”
Both athletes know that they will need to bring their A-game if they are hoping for repeat wins in a race that annually attracts some of the best middle distance athletes in the country.
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