'I still don't believe it' - Mofokeng praises Gelant & Potch Track Club after massive PB and top 10 at Cape Town Marathon
On Sunday 20 October, South African athletics lovers witnessed some breath taking performances during the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. The standout out of which was the the astonishing marathon debut of Glenrose Xaba, who lived up to her billing as she shattered the SA Marathon women record with the splendid 2:22:22 - eclipsing the previous mark of 2:24:03 set by Comrades and Two Oceans queen Gerda Steyn at last year's Valencia Marathon in Spain.
But there were some other notable results. Amongst the local runners who finished inside the top ten in either the men’s or women’s races was Putseletso Mofokeng who claimed 10th place in a time of 2:13:31 - chopping his previous best time by a whopping 5 minutes and 6 seconds. The 31-year-old who hails from the Northern Free State town of Frankfort, where the likes of former Soweto Marathon winner Michael Mazibuko and promising long distance runners Simon and Pule Sibeko also come from, remains in awe of his performance especially after he encountered some difficulties in recent years which nearly robbed him of his love and passion for the sport.
"I still don't believe it but at the same time, I'm very happy with the way I performed. I think I surprised myself a bit with the way I finished in the end," explains Mofokeng. "At the start of the race, it was bit difficult mentally because you see all these top athletes you admire, and now you are about to challenge them. My plan was to stick with the leading pack of athletes and see how it goes. If I lose then it fine. But based on my training I knew I'm in shape to run between 2:11 and 2:14," he told #TheTopRunner.
"The first 10km of the race were slow because of the wind. We reached the 10km mark in 32 minutes. Then Stephen Mokoka (who was the pacesetter on the day) increased the pace. As we approached the 30km mark, I started feeling tired and losing touch a bit with lead pack. I was just pushing to finish and then I was motivated when I heard someone at 35km mark shouting at me by saying I'm number 11. Then I pushed hard till I passed the international runner in the closing stages to finish number 10. In the end, I'm quite happy," he said.
Since Mofokeng joined Jean Verster's training group in August 2023 from Micheal Seme's Sponge Group, he has enjoyed some fruitful results. Previously, he had a modest 2:20 best clocking over the standard marathon which he when he claimed fifth place at the Bhekizizwe Joseph Shabalala Marathon. He says he used to be a reluctant racer because things tended not to go his way on race day.
"Since I joined coach Jean Verster’s group at the Potchefstroom Track Club, things have changed. I'm not saying there was anything wrong with the last set up. It just that things were not coming together. I was failing to even run 30 minutes in the 10km distance. It was frustrating. At times, I would ask myself what is going on but there would be no answer. When people would ask me how I performed in race, it would be hard to answer those kind of questions. It was depressing and sometimes I didn't want to even go to races anymore. It was a very tough period but I'm glad I have overcome that."
Things began to fall into place for Mofokeng earlier this year. In April, he grabbed the silver medal over 10 000m at the Athletics South Africa (ASA) Senior Track and Field Championships and then a few weeks later, he collected a top 20 finish at the Durban International marathon in 2:18:37 - the fastest time he had ever run over 42,2km. In July Mofokeng produced a personal best 29:19 at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K, while also running PB’s over 3000m and 5000m. He says training with three-time Olympian Elroy Gelant has been a game changer that has fuelled him to reach the next level.
"I think everyone has seen how Elroy has been performing this year. He is an inspiration to many athletes in our country. To be around him in training is motivation alone. Plus in our group, we push each other achieve more in life. At times, when I feel tired and think of skipping training, I remember that I'm chasing specific targets and goals in life. In fact, in the group we all do and they are a wonderful group athletes to be surrounded by."
Comments