Lesotho athletes steal the show at Hollywoodbets 10km race in Durban

Lesotho runners Tebello Ramakongoana and Neheng Khatala stole the show at the Hollywoodbets 10km race in Durban on Sunday claiming victories in the men’s and women’s sections respectively. 

Pre-race talk was about challenging national records held by Precious Mashele (27:35) for the men and Glenrose Xaba (31:12) for women on a fast Durban course but they were hindered by strong winds. 

Durban experienced strong winds on Sunday morning that most of the athletes said played a role in them not going for faster times as Ramakongoana crossed the finishing line in 28:07 and Khatala in 32:26. 

“I am happy to win this race here in Durban because I came here to test my body after tough competition at the Olympics,” said Ramakongoana who was followed closely by South Africans Elroy Gelant (28:07) and Kamohelo Mofolo (28:09) in second and third respectively. 

“The field was strong but if you are well prepared, everything will fall into place. An athlete like Gelant is good, actually he is faster than me, and I respect him a lot because of his experience,” he said also further explaining when he decided to go for the kill. 

“I decided to increase the pace from six kilometres so that I have a lead with one kilometre to go where sprinting may come into place.” 

Ramakongoana said this has been a good year considering he finished seventh at the Paris Olympic Games. 

“It has been a great year and I hope to keep up these performances next year.” 

Khatala, who was followed by South African Cacisile Sosibo (32:48) and countrywoman Blandina Makatisi (33:07), revealed she could not prepare well due to sickness last week. 

“I am happy, it means a lot because I finally have a win this year,” said Khatala who is based at Potchefstroom University where she is studying sports science. 

“I didn’t think I will win because I was not feeling well leading up to the race with a tooth ache. I was in hospital and I had to take antibiotics and that took me away from training for three days.

“I only started to jog after three days, I did a light session on Thursday. Generally I wasn’t myself leading up to this race but I said to myself go there and do it and I an happy that I managed to win the race. 

“The pace was good and I felt comfortable, when I reached seven kilometres, I pulled off from the rest of them. The field was strong and I knew that the likes of Cian Oldknow, Makatise and others can win the race.”