The wind stole the show at Friday night’s second Yellow Page Series track and field meeting in Durban but Elizna Naude wasn’t complaining.
She hurled the discus a fine 64.49 metres, her best of the year, and an effort that earns her A qualifying standard for the Commonwealth Games in India later this year.
She becomes only the second athlete to meet the A-standard, joining Robert Oosthuizen who made his mark in last week’s first meeting of the series in Port Elizabeth.
In the track events, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, Ruben Ramolefi and LJ Van Zyl all posted winning performances.
World 800m champion Mulaudzi stole the show in the 1,500m as he lead the field home from 500 metres to go and won in 3min 43.88 to edge out Windy Jonas, an apt first name last night, who clocked (3:44.22).
“The pace was too slow for me and with just over a lap to go I moved to the front and made the race my own,” said Mulaudzi.
“The wind was very strong but the race gave me a good idea of my form ahead of an 800m outing at the next Yellow Pages Series meeting in Potchefstroom on Thursday, before I compete at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar next month.”
Olympic 3000 metres steeplechase finalist Ruben Ramolefi posted a highly credible winning time of 8:25.50 in his favourite event. “The wind really made running tough out there, but I see it as more of a blessing than a curse as it helps me to become mentally and physically more prepared for key races later in the athletics year,” said Ramolefi.
Commonwealth Games champion Van Zyl also battled a strong wind but still achieved his goal of dipping under the 50sec barrier when he clocked 49.49sec.”The wind was bad in the home straight but it was still a good race,” said Van Zyl.
Making a comeback from injury was World Championships silver medallist Khotso Mokoena in the long jump. He said before the meeting that he would be happy with anything further than 8m so would no doubt be pleasantly surprised with his 8.22 effort.
And in-form middle-distance ace Rene Kalmer won the women’s 1,500m with a 4:19.49 return on an evening when the wind was always going to be the real winner.
Results:
Men:
100 metres (Fastest times from 2 races): Simon Magakwe (Pukke) 10.65, 2 Leigh Julius (NMMU) 10.79, 3 Hannes Dreyer (Tuks) 10.83
200 metres: T Meshoe (RBAC) 21.68, 2 H Dreyer (Tuks) 21.78, 3 R Sefenyatso (RBAC) 21.89
400 metres: 1 O Mogawane (RBAC) 46.55, 2 O Pistorius (Tuks) 47.66, 3 P Marx (Kov) 47.88
1500 metres: 12 M Mulaudzi (UJ) 3:43.88, 2 W Jonas (Kov) 3:44.22, 3 E Gelant (Green) 3:44.25
3000 metres steeplechase: R Ramolefi (UJ) 8:25.50, 2 E Molepe (Pukke) 8;36.83, 3 T Phaswana (UJ) 9:17.98
400 metres hurdles: 1 LJ van Zyl (Tuks) 49.49, 2 C Fredericks (Maties) 50.25, 3 W le Roux (Tuks) 51.02
Hammer: 1 C Harmse (Orion) 69.89, 2 J Kruger (Maties) 63.14, K Bekker (UJ) 62.39
Long Jump: 1 K Mokoena 8.22, 2 L Manyonga 8:05, 3 Z Visser 7.78
Triple Jump: 1 T Thagane 16.81, B Motlahlego 14.79, A Motlahlego 13.73
10km walk: 1 Wayne Snyman (Tuks) 47:30.45, Gideon Cilliers (Bel) 47;53.75, 3 W Fraser (Dut) 48;49.42
Women:
100 metres: 1 C Stewart (NMMU) 12.21, 2 S Nanda (Ind) 12.51, 3 N Gumede (UKZN) 12.79
200 metres: 1 J Palframan (ESH HS) 24.92, 2 C Stewart (NMMU) 24.94, 3 S Nanda (Ind) 24.94
400 metres: 1 E Wittstock (Tuks) 53.82, 2 T Herunga (Nam) 55.41, 3 A van Wyk (Tuks) 55.43
1500 metres: 1 R Kalmer (Ned) 4:19.49, 2 M Maspaseka (Mr Price) 4:23.57, 2 I van Blerk (Ned) 4:27.18
Hammer throw: 1 M Badenhorst (Kov) 48.08, 2 K le Roux (Maties) 47.51, 3 N Botha (Kov) 40.25
Discus: 1 E Naude (Tuks) 64.49, 2 M Oberholzer (Tuks) 50.58, 3 S Meyer (CKS AC) 48.40
Long Jump: 1 J Josephs (Maties) 6.32, 2 B Smith 5.97, 3 P Ntshingila 5.92
Article Source: http://www.sascoc.co.za/
