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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter
LONG distance runner Blessing Waison put up a good fight at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon 2023 yesterday when finishing on position nine in South Africa.
Waison crossed the finish line in 2hours 12minutes 49seconds.
His coach Alden Muhoni was impressed with the outcome.
“I am very happy with his run. He ran a great race. He followed our plans from start to end. You could see he was very calm in the first kilometers and did not follow the Ethiopian athletes who were doing surges.
“He also tried to break the leading bunch after 35km when everyone was tired, and that was part of our plan. He just lacked that final kick to win it after leading in the final kilometers but overall, I am impressed.”
The race was won by Adane Kebede Gebre of Ethiopia in 2hours 11minutes 28seconds. Stephen Mokoka of South Africa was second with a time of 2hours 11minutes 33seconds and on third place was Kenya’s Benard Kipkorir in 2hours 11minutes 51seconds.
For Waison, yesterday’s performance saw him setting a new personal best. His previous personal best was 2hours 15minutes.
“His previous personal best (PB) was 2.15 in the same marathon (Sanlam Marathon), which he set last year, 2022. Today he managed a new PB of 2.12. This is impressive.
“It shows we are getting somewhere. The whole idea is to make sure he is consistently cutting that time. He has potential to run a very good time.
“The way he is improving time is unbelievable. This only confirms that our training formulas are working. Remember his first marathon was in 2021 and his time was 2.28. Now two years later he is now running a 2.12 marathon…He is great to work with.
“There were one or two areas we could have done better in planning and I believe he could have easily run a 2.10 marathon today,” said Muhoni.
Muhoni said they are looking qualification for Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Olympic Games qualification time is 2 hours 8minutes 10 seconds for men and 2hours 26minutes 50seconds for women.
“We are now working on trying to secure a race from around Europe where he can run good times because of low altitude. We want to keep on working on his times for the next Olympics.
“He is still young at 28 and I believe there are just a few areas to address now in order for that to happen,” said Muhoni.
He paid tribute to their sponsors for their support.
“I thank our sponsors Real Star Security and Kreamon Investments for being there in the background to assist when we are in the deep end. I also thank the NAAZ president Mr (Tendayi) Tagara for organising training for coaches to make sure we use relevant training formulas so that our athletes remain competitive,” said Muhoni.
The Ethiopians dominated the women’s category, claiming the top three positions. Tsige Haileslase Abreha was the first to cross the finish line in 2hours 24minutes 17seconds.
Melesech Tsegaye Beyene and Shewarge Alene Amare were second and third in 2hours 26minutes 22seconds and 2hours 27minutes 26seconds respectively.
Online Reporter