Jave Slave Route Challenge finish area on Grand Parade.

The 2013 Jive Slave Route Challenge proved to be a big hit with runners, judging by the big, tired smiles from runners entering the finish straight on the Grand Parade.

This year saw an increase in the number of runners for the 21km Slave Route Challenge, the 10km run and Big Walk.

Runners were again lucky enough to run through the Castle of Good Hope, one of the oldest historical monuments in South Africa.

Runners were also able to enjoy the sights and early morning sounds of Cape Town as they ran past landmarks such as the Jewish Museum, the Company Gardens and Parliament as well as St George’s Cathedral. The route also saw them tackle the big climb into Bo Kaap (and Koeksister Hill), a descent into Somerset Road and and an early morning glimpse of Cape Town Stadium before making their way to the V&A Waterfront and then heading back towards the CBD via Adderley Street and the finish on the Grand Parade.

A koeksister? Don't mind if I do!

Itheko not only hosted the race but they managed to win some of the big prizes too. The club took top honours in the men’s and women’s 21km race and bagged the team prize too.

Itheko’s Lusaseni Tom won the 21km race, pipping clubmate Lindikhaya Mthangayi at the finish line. Nedbank’s Sityole Diko finished in third place.

Itheko’s Nomvuyisi Seti won the women’s 21km race with Nedbank’s Candyce Hall in second and Charissa Steyn placing third.

Itheko also won the 21km men’s team prize.

Itheko won the team prize in the 10km race and the club’s Nkosinathi Sotyana placing third overall in the race.

Sityole Diko (left, 3rd place), Lusaseni Tom (centre, winner) and Lindikhaya Mthangayi (right, second).

Results:

Slave Route Challenge 21km:

Men:

Women:

Itheko’s Nabeelah Orrie placed third in women’s junior section with a time 2.42.06 while Itheko’s Aleyda Philander finished second in the women 40-49 category.

Slave Route Challenge 10km:

Men:

Itheko’s Graham Katzen won the men’s 40-49 category.

Women:

Itheko’s Patricia Adams placed third in the women’s 40-49 category.

Michael Toll, Shaun Abrahams and Tobias Philander... masters of their trade.

Itheko athletes Shaun Abrahams, Tobias Philander and Michael Toll excelled at the recent SA Masters Championships held in Oudtshoorn.

Shaun Abrahams picked up four gold medals in four different events (that’s 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m) and won a silver medal in the relay event.

Tobias Philander won a gold medal in the 800m and silver in the 1500m events he competed in.

Michael Toll won four medals in the sprint events which incuded bronze in the 100m and 400m, silver in the 200m and gold in the relay.

In other news, Itheko runner, Graham Katzen, has been chosen to represent Western Province Athletics at the South African 10km Championships taking place in Durban on May 19. Katzen has been in fantastic form  of late, having come off a win in the 10km men’s 40-49 category at the Slave Route Challenge as well as winning the first WPA cross country race of the season.

Well done to the athletes on their brilliant achievements.

Yusuf Kanouni and Lindikhaya Mthangayi

Itheko athletes put in classy performances in the Weskus marathon and half marathon events in Langebaan to walk off with most of the prizes on offer.

Lindikhaya Mthangayi and Lusaseni Tom gave Itheko a one-two finish in the half marathon. Mthangayi won the race in a time of 1:09:49 with Tom coming in at 1:10:06. Itheko also won the men’s team prize with Mulami Mabona and Mervin Steenkamp sharing in the honours.

Nomvuyisi Seti matched the Itheko men with another fantastic win in the women’s 21km race.

In the marathon, Itheko scored a second place overall with new club runner Ndtwendu, in a time of 2:33:03, as well as a win for Gcobani Ngqola in the mens’ 40+ category. Itheko capped the day with a team win in the marathon with Yusuf Kanouni and Riyaad Isaacs sharing in the honours.

The 2013 Boston Marathon will be remembered for the wrong reasons.

ITHEKO RUNNER, Salih Solomon, participated in the 117^th edition of the Boston Marathon. He was one of the 28 South Africans who ran the marathon and also witnessed the tragic events that played out near the finish line.

The Boston Marathon was hit by two explosions which killed three people and left more than 180 people injured. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the senseless, cowardly bombings.

The bombs went off while the race was in progress, at approximately the 4h09min mark.

Salih Solomon finished the race in 2h55min. Speaking to the SA press after the tragedy, Solomon recounted that he was about 200m away from the first blast. He said that while he was on the same side of the road as the blast, he was well away from the blast radius.

He described scenes of panic as people scrambled to get away from the blast, saying that many of the runners were barely able to run as they’d just completed a marathon.

Our prayers go out to the people who were hurt in the blast and may those who perished rest in peace. We are also thankful that Salih will be able to return home to his family and friends unharmed.

One of Itheko's little runners crosses the line with coach Mogammad Abdullatief keeping a watchful eye on his charge.

THE CROSS COUNTRY season kicked off in Pinelands with the relay race. Itheko was again well represented, particularly by the club’s junior runners.

The race was run along the mostly grassy banks of the Elsieskraal River. The runners started the race at Pinehurst Primary, did one circuit of the course and handed over to the next runner in their relay team.

The action was fast and furious under the warm autumn sun. Check out our gallery here.

If you’re keen to try out cross country, there are eight league races you can do. Distances vary and caters for everyone. The little ones run distances of between 1km and 4km and the adults between 4km and 12km. Entries cost between R3 and R15.

Remember, cross country is not the same as trail running. Cross country is off-road running while trail running is mostly run on mountain and forest trails.

Cross country league races for 2013:

May 4 – CPUT Bellville South

May 11 – Hillcrest Wine Farm, Durbanville

May 19 – Elfindale

May 25 – Swartklip Stadium, Mitchells Plain

June 8 – Koeberg Nature Reserve

July 21 – Strandfontein

July 27 – Rocklands

August 3 – Pollsmoor

Johnine Hughes on the final stretch on the Field of Dreams.

MY TWO OCEANS Half Marathon novice journey started on Wed 27th March at the Expo.

With much excitement I arrived at the CTICC with 2 colleagues and queued for my pack…only to be very disappointed. They had spelled my name wrong! I was now Johanie Hughes instead of Johnine Hughes.

For the fist time I had the opportunity to have a personalised number and it was wrong – they also gave me an x-large male t-shirt! Read the rest of Johnine’s story…

The Itheko Ultra bus motoring along with one of the Hartebeespoort runners on the right.

If you’ve ever wondered why us runners do what we do, read this:

To the Two Oceans runners that ran with the Itheko bus,

We’re from Hartbeesport Marathon Club and we ran the Two Oceans Marathon for the first time this year. We caught up with your club bus and ran most of the way with them. What a fantastic team. That’s what running is all about. No team member was left behind. We had fabulous music the whole way and a great team spirit to keep us going. Your team made this race the most memorable one I’ve ever done.

You make running easy.  You guys rock!

Thank you for the support.

Love

Michelle and Julie (The gate crashers)

Again, well done to the club’s Two Oceans Ultra Marathon runners (you all know who you are) for running and completing this tough race. And well done on making the race a memorable one for so many runners.

Fazlin McCallum and Gadija Ryklief finish the Eurasia Marathon.

TWO INTREPID ITHEKO athletes took advantage of some of magic scheduling and combined the delights of a holiday with the adrenalin rush of a race… in Turkey.

The race spanned two continents and was absolutely awesome. But don’t take our word on it, read on to find out how Fazlin McCallum and Gadija Ryklief did in the Eurasia Marathon.

Waleed Isaacs showing how its done.

MY JOURNEY TOWARDS Oshens 2013, started at the end of November 2012 (4 months ago) when I decided I had had enough of running my races at the edge of cut-off. And although Ochens 2013 had an additional 10 minutes added to it, it was not going to deter me from going on my journey… Read more of Waleed Isaac’s story.