Home | Sports | USDF’S MELUSI IS THE TUFF ONE

USDF’S MELUSI IS THE TUFF ONE

Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font

MANZINI – Melusi Sihlongonyane of USDF Athletics Club won the 2017 Tuff One half marathon for a record fourth time yesterday morning.


Sihlongonyane, who has been winning the event since 2014, clocked 1:11:54 minutes to beat club mate Ntokozo Mavimbela to the prize. It will seem the 24-year-old long distance runner is making the Tuff One event his own as he has won it since 2014.


Though he fails to make podium finishes in other events, Sihlongonyane started the current year on a high note, winning the first marathon event in the Athletics Association of Swaziland (AAS) calendar, the Wafa Wafa 21km race. His other gold medal outside the Tuff One race was the Wafa Wafa 2015 race.


Sihlongonyane stuck to the 10km leading pack like glue, to open a big gap from the other competitors on the intersection after 7km of the race to set the tone nice and early.
“The secret was starting with pace to open gap and from there it is easy to dictate the pace. The first 10km was crucial, hence I kept the pace even though I was doing the longer route and by the time the others picked up pace, I was home and dry,” Sihlongonyane said.


Second placed Ntokozo Mavimbela, also from USDF attributed his best performance in his career to endurance. Mavimbela was seventh in the same event last year and improved to fourth position in the recent Wafa Wafa 21km race before yesterday’s podium finish.
“I’ve always had speed but worked on the endurance side of my game this time around hence I did well,” he said.

Comments (0 posted):

Post your comment comment

Please enter the code you see in the image: