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Former Cross country champ excels in trail

───   09:55 Tue, 21 Feb 2017

Former Cross country champ excels in trail | News Article
Sandra Mansvelder - Raymond Bester

The former world championship cross-country athlete and senior international 800m competitor, Sandra Smith, proved that age is only a number during the Extreme Urban Trail Run at Makro in Bloemfontein.


The 42-year-old Smith took third overall during the 10km race and showed the men that she is just as good when she won the women's race in a blistering time of 45:17.

Luke Parker won the men's race and overall title in 44:16, while Pieter Zietsman crossed the line just three seconds off the pace in 44:19.

Wikkie van der Merwe completed the men's podium in 46:09, nearly a minute off the time of Smith.

In the 1990's Smith represented South Africa twice at the world cross-country championships. She also represented her country on the track in the 800m. Her personal record in the 800m is 2:04,31, which she set in 1995.

The second woman

to cross the line in the 10km was Elmarie Brand, who took sixth overall in a very good time of 48:13. She was followed by René du Plessis in 49:52 to complete the podium.

In a first for Bloemfontein a trail "half marathon", was run, with Johannes Motsau claiming the honours in the men's 21km event in 1:30:16. In doing so, he beat Adrian Nel (1:32:46) and Gerhard Beukes (1:36:31) in the inaugural run.

Sandra Mansvelder was the first lady to cross the line in an impressive 1:45:36.

Mansvelder's time saw her thrashing her closest competition by more than 15 minutes, with Juandi van Sandwyk taking second in 2:02:27. Karen Havenga completed the podium just over a minute off the pace in a very respectable 2:03:30.

The shortest event on the day, the 5km race, where beginners normally cut their teeth in trail running, was won by Nelio de Sa in 27:47. He was followed across the line some 20 seconds later by Elwin Buchel in 27:47, with Roan van Rensburg taking third in 27:50.

The women's 5km race was won by Manhene Landman in 31:10, Inge Venter took second in 32:42 and Ester de Beer took third in 33:43.

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