Molahloe outsprints Kavanagh to grab KZNA 5km title as Kubheka wins men's race
Rising star Ntsoaki Molahloe continued with her great 2024 form when she clocked an impressive 16:33 to grab the KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA) 5km Championship title in Durban this morning. The Phantane Athletic Club top runner made a calculated move to outsprint a pre-race favorite and reigning national 5km champion Tayla Kavanagh about 100m before the tape. Kavanagh ended up crossing the finish line three seconds later in second place as Black Diamond Athletics Club runner Busisiwe Chamane finished third in a time of 17:03.
Speaking to #TheTopRunner, Molahloe who hails from Welkom the in Free State expressed her delight especially after defeating Hollywood AC's Kavanagh whom she respects greatly."I'm happy to win the race. At the start of the race, I saw Tayla and I said to myself it's going to be difficult to win the race because she is a top class athlete with so much talent," said Molahloe, who studied at Riebeeckstad Höerskool.
"But in the final stages of the race I saw that the gap between Tayla and I was not that big then I started to push as much as I can. People on the road lifted my morale as they were cheering me non-stop. I decided to put one more strong surge then I managed to catch her right before I saw the finish line. This is big win for me and I'm happy that I didn't give up till the end," she explained.
Things have been going well for the 24-year-old this year. She recently ran an amazing 33:52 personal best time over the 10km distance when she took tenth place in a world class field at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K on 7 July. The lanky runner says her coach Mdu Khumalo, whom she has been working with since last year, must take the credit for her improvement this season.
"I'm happy with the progress I have seen since I started to work with coach Mdu (Khumalo). He inspires us as athletes to work hard in order to improve our times. Before I didn't have a coach and back home there aren't proper facilities for athletes to train. I decided to approach Mdu because his work has been wonderful. Then I moved to Durban last year to take my athletics career to another level. So far, I'm on the right track to achieve good things in life."
In the men's race, Xcel Running Club's Sibusiso Kubheka crossed the tape in a good time of 14:03 to reigns supreme then was followed home by Phantane's Thapelo Ramakhoase (14:06) as Bongelani Mkhwanazi of the Black Diamond AC took the last podium position in 14:15.
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