Running fast is one thing, but Cian Oldknow has proved she can win

At the pre-race media conference last week, ahead of the Hollywoodbets Durban 10km race, MC Mosibodi Whitehead pointed out the significant difference between being able to challenge for victory and actually winning. And he was raising a good point.

Week in and week out across the country, elite athletes compete for prizes in races of different sizes and popularity, for different levels of wealth and fame.

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Only a small percentage of them, however, have what it takes to be able to not only put up a fight at the highest level, but to beat every other athlete in the field. That takes something more.

Following the emergence of elite South African races in recent years, with a handful of events now forming part of the World Athletics road running circuit, South Africa’s top men have done well to raise their game, with multiple athletes having won some of the country’s most lucrative and prestigious races.

It is rare, however, to see SA’s top women outclassing foreign visitors, and when it happens, it’s worth taking note.

At this year’s SA Marathon Championships in Durban, Annie Bothma clawed her way back from the edge of an abyss to beat Ethiopian athlete Chaltu Bedo Nagashu by just five seconds in a late sprint for the line.

It was the type of gutsy performance which is required to shine on the road, a surface which batters the body and shatters the mind, leaving athletes to have to dig incredibly deep to emerge triumphant.

Oldknow triumphs

And as if she was reacting to Whitehead’s comments two days earlier, a similarly gutsy effort produced by Cian Oldknow carried her to victory against a strong line-up at the Hollywoodbets race (the most lucrative 10km contest in the country) last weekend.

Oldknow is one of a few South African women who look to be knocking on the door of an international breakthrough, and her latest result suggests she’s among the best.

It’s one thing to run a fast time (Oldknow clocked 32:17) but for an athlete to shatter their personal best and still have enough left to beat a quality line-up in a sprint finish shows even more potential at the highest level of the sport.

Oldknow edged out second-placed Ethiopian athlete Debash Kelali Desta by just one second, with the top five women all finishing within 10 seconds in a closely contested battle, and her ability to dig deep when it counts suggests she has a very bright future on the road, particularly over longer distances.

She’s super fast, brave enough to give it a go, and she knows how to win. That’s what it takes.