Ramakongoana triumphs over Gelant in thrilling sprint finish at HOLLYWOODBETS DURBAN 10KM

Olympian Tebello Ramakongoana produced a composed and tactical performance to emerge victorious over a mouth-watering field of top runners assembled for the fourth edition of the HOLLYWOODBETS DURBAN 10KM at the Kings Park Outer Fields today (29 September, 2024). Despite the windy conditions which put an end to hopes of a new SA 10km record, Lesotho's fastest marathoner of all time clocked a lightning fast 28:06 to beat South African marathon champion Elroy Gelant (28:07) in a sprint finish. Kamohelo Mofolo, who won last month's Absa RUN YOUR CITY TSHWANE 10K in 28:40, secured the third spot in 28:09.

An entertaining men's race featuring South Africa, Lesotho and Zimbabwe's leading 10km athletes produced a fast finish. Photo Credit: Sandile Xakaza.

In a hard-fought race where all of the top 10 men dipped under 29 minutes, Ramakongoana controlled the race from the start in a lead bunch of athletes including Gelant, Mofolo, Kabelo Mulaudzi, Siyabonga Ndlovu and Stephen Mokoka. The 27-year-old, who recently took a memorable seventh position in the Olympic Marathon in Paris Olympics in a new Lesotho national record of 2:07:58, showed his class throughout the race missing Mulaudzi's 2023 course record of 28:01 by a mere five seconds. Speaking after the race, Ramakongoana expressed delight even though his target was to smash Lesotho's mens 10km record of 27:52 which belongs to Namakoe Nkhasi.

"I'm very happy to win the race. At the start, I told myself that I'm going to lead from the front. The competition was very tough so I had to stick close to those good guys. The first 2km was fast. Then afterwards, the wind by the sea was too strong and the pace slowed. At 6km, I decided to surge. Most of the guys failed to respond and that's when I realised that it's all in my hands if I want to win the race. In the end, I'm very happy to win even though I had planned to run the 10km national record. It didn't come because of the wind," he explained.

Khatala celebrates victory for The Purple Team. Photo Credit: Sandile Xakaza.

The women's race produced another victory for Lesotho as the Hollywood Athletic Club's Neheng Khatala despatched the competition to win in 32:25. Boxer Athletics Club's Cacisile Sosibo finished second in 32:48, while Blandina Makatisi rounded out the podium in 33:06. Speaking after the race, Khatala who holds a personal best time of 32:01 which is also The Mountain Kingdom's 10km record, says she was pleased with the victory especially after the challenging week she had in the lead up to race day.

"I'm very happy to win the race. In my mind, I didn't see myself as the winner. On Monday, I visited the doctor as I was feeling sick. Then I didn't train for three days as I was on antibiotics. I only managed to do a little bit of training before the race. So to win is something good for me because it was unexpected." 

Thousands line up at the start of the 2024 HOLLYWOODBETS DURBAN 10KM. Photo Credit: Sandile Xakaza.

Apart from the top runners, the fourth edition of the much loved event was enjoyed by 9000 runners which is the race's biggest field yet since its inaugural running in November 2021. Hollywood AC Chairperson Greg Glossop expressed his delight saying the 2024 edition of the race was a resounding success. "We've had a fantastic day. The HOLLYWOODBETS DURBAN 10KM did everything we expected it to do. At the start there were so many people that I couldn’t even see the end of the start line. The wind blew which hampered the elite athletes, but for the other eight or nine thousand people the wind didn’t bother them one bit. I’m very happy it’s been a great day!"