WATCH: Runners glow in the dark at sold out BNAC Night Race
A total of 2 300 runners and walkers took part in the race's 5km and 10km events.
Boxer AC’s Johann Roelofse and Zante Taljaard won the Benoni Northerns Night Race, sponsored by Jan L Jordaan Attorneys at Benoni Northerns Sports Club on Wednesday night (October 23).
The event attracted a record crowd of 2 300 runners and walkers who all glowed in the dark in their colourful costumes and headlamps.
Taljaard clocked 37:01 to win the women’s 10km in her first night race, beating a field that included the elite Nedbank pair of Gillian Farquharson and Farrarmere resident Kate van Jaarsveld.
“The darkness did affect me a bit but the marshals helped. It’s unlike running in the morning or during the day. But it was a good run fun and well organised. I enjoyed it,” she said.
Despite her struggles in the darkness, she stuck with her pre-race plan of getting out of the blocks among the front runners and then maintaining her pace in the last half of the race.
“I felt good in the first 5km and then maintained from then onwards. I felt it in the legs in the last 2km but I kept pushing.”
Sharing her plans for next year, Taljaard said she would train hard to improve her PB in the 10km to under 35 minutes.
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Cassidy Bosman of Kempies clinched the silver, 33 seconds behind Taljaard, after crossing the line in 37:34, while Luca de Waal of Hoërskool Zwartkpos completed the top three 01:55 behind the winner when she clocked 38:56 for the bronze.
Roelofse led a men’s top three in the 10km race that finished in under 33 minutes. He crossed the line in 32:09 for victory, ahead of East Athletic Club (EAC)’s Kwanda Longoza, who clocked 32:43 for second place. Boxer’s Andre Venter completed the podium in 32:58.
“The first half was relatively flat but the last 5km were particularly hard because it was a bit hilly and my back was hurting and cramping after the first water point,” said Roelofse.
The Menlo Park resident, aiming to finish the race in under 31 minutes, paced himself with the 5km runners and knew at halfway when he dropped Longoza that he had the race in the bag.
“I went out hard to see how fast I would go in the first 6km and then held on in the last 4km. After 5km when I passed the second guy, I knew it was mine to lose. I fell short of my goal for a sub-31. Next year, I would aim for a sub-30 in the 10km and sub-15 in the 5km.”
The 5km, with over 1 600 participants, was timed for the first time.
Lubabalo Xoza of Maxed Elite won the men’s race in a quick-fire 15:16. JP van der Berg of Irun clinched the silver in 15:57 and Edwin Khonkhobe rounded up the podium in 16:27.
Shekinah Thompson clocked 19:39 for victory in the women’s race and the Irun pair of Mikayla Mans (20:34) and Trinity Henning (21:03) finished second and third respectively.
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