South African multiple-record holder Adriaan Wildschutt says his failure to break 27 minutes in the Absa Run Your City 10km was derailed by the withdrawal of pacesetters on the eve of the race in Gqeberha on Sunday.
Wildschutt was planning to become the first athlete on African soil to run the 10km race in under 27 minutes, but could not achieve his target after the withdrawal of pacesetters due to illness and injuries.
The 27-year-old won the race in 27:47 ahead of Kenyan international Isaac Ndiema, who settled for second place in 28:01, and Tshepo Tshite rounded off the podium finish in 28:09.
“That completely ended my dreams of trying to run sub-27. The weather wasn’t looking great; the pace was cancelled at the last minute,” Wildschutt told the media after the race.
“It’s a great organisation; it has nothing to do with them [race organisers]; it’s not in their control when pace is cancelled. There is no way I will run sub-27 alone and win as well, so I changed my focus and talked to my coach, just trying to go for the win and prepare for New York City in a few weeks.”
Wildschutt said he is likely to run the Durban leg later in the year to try to achieve his target of running a sub-27.
“I don’t want to even think about that now. As I said, I had great preparation leading up to this race, and pacesetters were cancelled,” he said.
“If I feel like coming back to one of these races, it probably would be Durban. I can go to Europe; I can go anywhere,. But as everyone knows, I love competing in South Africa. It’s just unfortunate that it came down to this.
“I’m still grateful for the win, but for me it was all about the time, and that unfortunately got taken away.
“You need pacemakers to run really fast, and this is unfortunately how it goes. I ran sub-27 a few times on the track; you can’t do it by yourself from the start.”
Michael Meyer, MD at Stillwater Sports, said they did everything to have pacesetters in the race, but they withdrew due to illness and injuries.
“As the organisers, we are trying everything we can to create the conditions for athletes to run as much as they can,” Meyer said.
“That means great prize money, a great field, and incentives for the athletes, South Africans and the visiting athletes. It includes pacemakers, and everything was put in place, but unfortunately, we can’t control the weather and when people get sick.”
In the women’s race, Kenyan internationals Brenda Jepchirchir [30:15] and Faith Cherono [30:44] dominated as they finished first and second, while Glenrose Xaba ended third in 32:13.
“I was looking to run sub 30 minutes, but because of the wind in the last 5km it was tough for me,” said Jepchirchir moments after the win.
“But I’m still feeling good, and I want to come back to run the Absa Run Your City Series again in Cape Town in May.”
The Herald
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