Weather works wonders for runners
Almost 3 000 runners participated in this race, which started and ended at Clearwater Mall.
The runners could not have wished for better weather when they took on the annual Clearwater 10km and 5km Fun Run Road Race on a cloudy Saturday morning, 18 August.
Almost 3 000 runners participated in the race, which started and ended at Clearwater Mall, and was organised the Panorama Running Club.
“This was the eighth running of the Clearwater Mall Race. This year it was dedicated to the memory of John-Mark Theunissen, who was vice-principal at King’s School West Rand and contributed immensely to the growth of the race for many years,” said the race organiser, Andrew Young.
After a moment of silence as a tribute to John-Mark, the 10km runners rallied to the starting line at 7am. They were followed shortly after by the 5km runners, who started running 15 minutes later.
The 10km race was divided into different categories, which included an Open and Junior division for both genders. It was also divided into different age groups, up to 70 years and older.
The first 10km Open division male runner, Mbongeni Ngazozo from the Boxer Running Club, crossed the finish line in exactly 00:30:49. He was closely followed by Michael Mazibuko in 00:30:58. Givemore Muarigana from Randburg Harriers took third place in 00:31:05.
In the Women’s Open, Crizell Roberts from Born2Run became the first woman to cross the finish line, with a time of 00:40:59, followed three minutes later by Sarah Silber from Run Zone and Emmah Mathibela from Nedbank, who almost lost to Cynette Cronk from Run Zone as they crossed the finish line a few seconds from each other.
The race also saw several running clubs taking part, among them the Florida Running Club, the Roodepoort Athletics Club and the Golden Reef Running Club whose runner, Peder Firman, scooped the Men’s 70+ category in 00:55:07.
Andrew expressed his views on participating in such a race, saying “It’s towards the end of the year, and the competitors are looking at running races like the Comrades’ Marathon next year – so it’s good exercise on a nice quiet route through Little Falls for them”. He also said that he was impressed with both the weather conditions and the smooth preparations for the race.
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