Washie double for good cause
THE ELB Washie 100 Miler 2017 was a great success, despite the additional difficulty of the roadworks on route.
A big thank you to all the authorities in both Ndlambe Municipality and Buffalo City Metro Municipality (as well as along the route) and the road construction engineers for the dedication and commitment to ensuring that each athlete arrived safely across the finish line.
Johan van der Merwe made it a fantastic five, winning his fifth Washie in his fifth visit to the race nicknamed “the monster”, in a time of 15:05:42. He is the current holder of the record time of 13:07:05 which he ran in 2012.
The winning lady this year was Cornel Metcalfe from Carletonville Harriers. Her time was 18:51:47.
Wandisile Nongodlwana, a novice, who came on a whim to run the race as a fundraiser, was in second position. He completed in 16:08:16
The first local runner was 52-year-old Max Msane from Cheetahs AC.
Mogale Piloso and Andre Kleinsmith, both from SANDF WP, completed their 10th run.
Three runners completed their fifth and received their permanent numbers, namely Mcebisi Yose, Tholang Moloi and Stephen Ahlschlager.
Suzette Venter started the race on Friday night at 59 years old and finished her race on Saturday at 60, managing the rare distinction of changing age categories during her race!
The cut-off time is 26 hours and it was quite something for Ringson Mdoka and Fannie Raseruthe to cross the finish line together on 25:25:25.
Ebarnie Cilliers finished his third Washie but this year with his wife doing it for her first time. They took the Husband & Wife trophy.
The team with the most finishers was once again SANDF WP and the team with the top three combined winning times was Carletonville Harriers.
“It was a pleasure to host the 82 starters for the hottest Washie ever recorded [32°C], with 66 finishing the race. It’s always exciting to see many of our local clubs represented and how many of our local runners go out on the road in their takkies to support out-of-town runners,” Washie spokeswoman Tracy Mackay said.
The last finisher in had a 400m sprint finish up Heartbreak Hill (outside the Buffs Club) to make the cut-off, and he earned the Tortoise trophy for his time of 25:56:41. Roadworks no obstacle to runners
“All finishers are winners in this race; they all ran 100 miles!” said Mackay.
“Some runners however are not satisfied with 160km, they do a ‘back-to-back’ and after completing the run from Port Alfred, turn around and go back to Port Alfred.
“Tobie Reyneke decided to do this amazing feat in aid of Tears Foundation for victims of rape and abuse. If anyone wishes to support Tobie on this achievement, they can donate to this worthy cause, by SMSing TEARS to 40111 to donate R20 or more,” Mackay added.
Reyneke finished his return run on Monday morning after 7am, which was 62 hours 21 mins and 8 secs on the road for 322km – running three nights by moonlight.
