Athletics South Africa – News – SA TEAM AIMING FOR TOP TEN FINISH AT WORLD CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

The World Cross Country Championships take place on Sunday 20 March at Punta Umbria, Spain and the South African team of 24 athletes will be looking to do well in the team competition.

“South Africa traditionally places top ten overall in the team competition and that is what we are trying to maintain this year. We are not yet ready to challenge for individual placings and have to work on our depth first. Remember Kenya have been doing this for over 30 years now, so we cannot expect to be up there with them from the word go,” says team manager Jean Verster.

Verster has hit the nail on the head. There are over 200 nations who compete at the World Championships and with the exception of the top two-team placings – Kenya and Ethiopia, who will also be the main contenders for individual glory – the competition for the other 8 placings will be intense.

There is no doubt that the men, and women’s team, have the ability to be in the top ten again after the performance at the recent Africa Cross Country Championships in Cape Town. The Men’s team placed second overall with Kgosi Tsosane the best finisher (5^th). Stephen Mokoka, who is one of the most versatile athletes in many years in South Africa, will have learned from those championships to feed off the Kenyans rather than try to beat them. If he does that, then he could well end up in the top 20 overall at the World Championships. The best ever South African male performance was in 1995 when Shadrack Hoff finished 15^th overall. Mokoka has the potential to equal, possibly even better that performance.

On the ladies front the hopes lie with the Phalula twins and Annarien van Skalkwyk. Lebogang and Lebo Phalula have placed high at a European Cross Country race in Fuensalida, Spain in January this year (2^nd and 4^th respectively) and will need to reproduce that kind of form if they want to help Team South Africa to finish in the top ten in the ladies race. Van Skalkwyk is solid and consistent, finishing second at the Cross Country Trials in February and was best South African finisher at the Africa Cross Country Championships (11^th). Whilst no one expects them to finish individually on the top ten (Colleen De Reuck was best ever finisher in 5^th in 1995), there is no doubt the ability to finish in the top 20 or 30 in the individual race is there, and that will go a long way to securing the top ten team position.

According to Verster the Juniors are a bit of an unknown quantity. “Every year there are no youngsters coming through and it is very difficult to gage the depth at both SA and International Level. But we need to get this current crop of Juniors to stay in the sport and that means we need to get them training together, racing together and keeping them in the sport so that in 3-5 years time they are the basis of our team. Not an easy thing to do.”

The Juniors though traditionally always equate themselves well at this level also generally taking the team to finish in the top ten overall.

 The full team to the World Championships is as follows:

Senior Men:

Kgosi Tsosane
Steven Mokoka
Lungiswa Mdedelwa
Boy Soke
Xolisa Tyali
Tshamano Setone

 

Senior Women:

Lebogana Phalula
Annerien van Schalkwyk
Lebo Phalula
Mapaseka Makhanya
Teboho Masehla
Rene Kalmer

 

Junior Men:

William Kaptain
Merline Klaaste
Jeromy Andreas
Luyanda Qolo
Luxolo Mdzanga
Edwin Sesipi

 

Junior Women:

Letitia Snyman
Caroline Marandela
Thato Makhafola
Sylvia Tshetlanyane
Thandeka Manzana
Konzeni Gwegwe

Athletics South Africa – News