Van Zyl wins two 10km’s within 24 hours
Flying van Zyl clocked the last 2km in 3:11 and 3:08 to the finish at Mary Fitzgerald Square.
COMING off a win in Cape Town on Sunday, Irvette van Zyl demolished the FNB Joburg 10km CITYRUN on Monday.
The FNB Joburg CITYRUN was held on September 24 in Johannesburg while the Cape Town Marathon took place on September 23 in Cape Town.
Both wins were recorded in the 10km mark and apart for the wins, Van Zyl has also made a bit of running history on the South African road running circuit to win two 10km runs within 24 hours running a blistering 33:51 seconds on Monday. She was the first woman racer home in Cape Town in finishing in a time of 32:48 seconds.
Van Zyl, who made her first appearance in this race, smashed the previous course record by almost two minutes pulling the leading top four women also under the previous course record.
Photo: Annette van Schalkwyk
The first kilometre was covered in 3:06. Three kilometres went by in 9:28 while 5km was covered in 16:28 as she started to hit the climbs. By then she was running on her own in the women’s race with Susy Chebet and Glenrose Xaba, the defending champion, a good way off the pace. Comrades Marathon runner-up, Gerda Steyn, was having an impressive race and was closing down on the tiring Xaba whom she passed in the final 3km.
There was no stopping the flying van Zyl who clocked the last 2km in 3:11 and 3:08 on the descent to the finish at Mary Fitzgerald Square. Van Zyl smashed through the finish ribbon in an incredible 33:51. A massive 1 minute and 40 seconds inside the previous course record of 35:34 set in 2016. The flying van Zyl had flown out of Cape Town the evening before, the race where she had competed in a 10km which she won in her second fastest time ever of 32:48. Clearly van Zyl is hitting peak form a mere three months after giving birth to her second son.
Photo: Annette van Schalkwyk.
Kenya’s Susy Chebet was second across the line, clocking 34:30 while Gerda Steyn came storming through to the finish in an impressive 35:01.
Eritrean Filmon Ande led the top three men at the FNB Joburg 10K CITYRUN to under the course record on Monday in a time of 29:27 seconds.
“I didn’t even look at the record. All I could think of was to finish well and do my best,” said Van Zyl.
“After my pregnancy three months ago, I tried to get fit first of all and then up my fitness level to run good times again in the 10km runs. Thereafter I wanted to see if I can go faster over this distance.”
“It wasn’t very easy to do the two 10km’s in 24 hours, but we planned it well and I think that I can do two runs in one weekend in future now.”
“At the 4km mark, I thought I can break away from the lead group and it went well. No one followed me. Just before the 8km mark I was all on my own and there was a slight uphill which was difficult, but once I was through that, I realised there’s one 2km left and then I went for the win not realising that I am going to break the record.”
The men’s race started at a blistering clip up Harrison Road, with the first kilometre covered in around 2:40 before settling into a more reasonable pace. The first three kilometres though split the lead pack of 20 down to 10 with defending champion Thabang Mosiako, Elroy Gelant and course record holder, Namakoe Nkhasi in the mix. The bus, however, was being driven by Eritrea’s Filmon Ande and Uganda’s Mande Buschendich.
As the pack headed down towards the Ellis Park Sports Complex around the 4km mark, before the first of two big climbs, the pack was whittled down some more and as they hit 5km in 14:25, it was down to five runners. Ande, Bushendich, Mosiako, Nkhasi and Jobo Khatoane with Gelant beginning to falter.
Photo: Annette van Schalkwyk.
By 8km, the lead was down to two with Ande and Buschendich going toe to toe up past Constitution Hill, before Ande broke away in the final kilometre, screaming home in 29:27, some 22 seconds inside of the previous record held by Nkhasi when he won in 2016 with 29:49. Second was Bushendich, clocking 29:37, with Nkhasi rounding out the top three in 29:40, also inside the previous record.
Some 13 00 runners and walkers descended to the Joburg CBD on Heritage Day to enjoy their day out.
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