Philani ‘PK’ Sengce defended his OUTsurance Gun Run Trail title in perfect Cape Town spring morning, racing to victory today (Saturday 14 September) in record time, with former Pretoria athlete, Mila Geldenhuys, joining the record-breaking spree in the women’s competition.
Boland’s Athletes Academy athletes dominated the podiums on the first day of the Gun Run’s weekend of running, with Eastern Cape-born athlete, Awethu Ntsotho, topping the podium in the 10km road race after a close 6 second victory over his 20 year old teammate, Emmanuel Fredericks. Lorenzo Pieterse completed the Athletes Academy podium sweep, placing third.
24-year-old teacher and Endurocad Academy graduate, Yandiswa Shange, added to the Athletes Academy joy, defending her title with a close-fought 8 second win over Marie-Tinka Olivier in the women’s 10km race.
Last year’s race was severely impacted by the elements. as gale-force winds and surging high tides forced the cancellation of the 5km fun run and shortened the 10km race. Today’s conditions could not have been more different, perfect for the festival of running.
Well over 5000 took part in the trail race, 10km road race, 5km run run and 5km pet walk, which supported the event’s charity, the Animal Welfare Society.
Sengce’s navigational skills let him down last year in his first ever trail race, but he nonetheless recovered sufficiently to win. Twelve months on, Sengce has significantly sharpened his path-finding ability and had no problems with the testing 17,8km route from Deer Park in Oranjezicht to the finish at Green Point Common, crossing the finish line in 1 hr 15 min 45 sec, five minutes inside his time last year.
So quick to finish was Sengce that he took race commentators and line officials by surprise. The charismatic Kaymandi athlete, with the biggest fan club in the business, had to do a second run through the finish line for the cameras, this time breaking the OUTsurance finishing tape.
“It’s good to win again,” said Sengce. “I’ve been struggling with a groin injury but I was determined to run today. It gave me some problems in the early stages, but was okay in the second half, after I had warmed up.
“I’m planning to race the Cape Town Trail Marathon next month, but I’m a little scared of that one – it’s a really tough course which smashed me last year!”
Brode Gleeson, recently returned from a month of trail running and racing in Europe, moved one step up the podium following his third place last year, finishing 1 min 52 sec behind Sengce.
“We ran together for the first half,” related Gleeson. “I took a wrong turn on the single track above Tafelberg Road but fortunately PK called me back onto the route. After that I couldn’t stay with him – he was just too strong for me.”
Videographer trainee, Geldenhuys, joined Sengce at on top of the podium for the second time in fours months after the pair took line honours at the 25km UTMB MUT race in the Southern Cape town of George in May. On that occasion Geldenhuys upset Protea athlete, Lijan Burger, and has continued her improvement on trails, winning the 24km PUfHie two weeks ago.
She was in good form today, winning by over ten minutes ahead of Madele du Plessis and finishing three minutes inside Nadine van Driel’s winning time and course record from last year.
Former Protea athlete turned distance-running coach, Jacques van Rensburg, was ecstatic with the performance of his ‘Shadow Chasers’ – the name of his Stellenbosch-based training squad, mostly comprising Athletes Academy athletes.
“PK ran a great race today and continues to improve on the trail, and I think Awethu (Ntsotho), who won the 10km today also has great potential on the trail,” Van Rensburg reflected. “Hopefully they can contest for places in South African teams competing internationally.
“The spirit in our squad is really strong and the athletes are inspired by each other’s performances. Last week Deon-Lee (Hendricks) won a bronze medal in the SA cross country championships (he is competing in tomorrow’s Gun Run Half Marathon) and today PK and Awetu have won at the Gun Run.
“And suddenly Yandiswa (Shange) is running well again and it was great to see that she won today. She graduated from Endurocad and is now a qualified teacher.”
Some of the country’s leading road athletes will compete in the half-marathon tomorrow, which gets underway from the stadium precinct at 06h30.
RESULTS
OUTsurance GUN RUN
Trail Race 17,8km
