Lipschitz on track for a fast London Marathon after winning Balwin Sport Dolphin Coast Marathon
South African top runner Adam Lipstchitz has continued to shine on the road this year as he prepares to make his London Marathon debut in April 27. Yesterday (Sunday 16 March), Lipstchitz showcased his class to dismantle the field on his way to clinching the Balwin Sport Dolphin Coast Marathon in a time of 2:20:25. Using the race which starts in Ballito and finishes at the Amphitheater on the Durban North Beach Promenade outside of Elangeni Hotel, Lipstchitz used the event as a training run as he started slow and gradually increased the tempo to win ahead of Pan Africa Minerals top Runner Proud Chauke (2:22:21), while Mncedisani Phungula clocked 2:23:01 to take the last place on the podium.
It was the 31-year-old's second victory of the year after coming out on top in Best of the Best 10km race earlier this month. Then to underline his excellent form, last weekend he produced a lightning fast time of 1:01:58 at the Lisbon Half Marathon in Portugal which was the second fastest 21km clocking of his career. The founder of the Social Runners Club admitted that he is in good shape at the moment.
"I'm so happy with the way I ran. The time I ran is a very good time. A very hard training run. You need to run long hard long runs if you want to run faster. At the moment, my focus is on one race which is the London Marathon. Everything I do is training and build up to race day. This is like my first long run of the year. The plan was to do the 30km. I just wanted to go at a pace 3.25 per Kilometer but once I reached Virginia, in around 12km to go, the pace picked up," he explained.
With the London Marathon roughly six weeks away, Lipstchitz remains positive that he can go beyond the 2:08:54 42km lifetime best time he ran at the Valencia Marathon last December.
"Looking at my fitness level now compared to the 2:08 at the Valencia Marathon, I'm slightly ahead. The shape is there and the body is feeling strong. At the moment, I'm confident that I'll run faster in London. 2:07 - 2:08 is a realistic target. I've got big plans for the year especially in the second half where I plan to go even faster," he told #TheTopRunner.
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