De Bruin achieves career high with third place at Johnson Crane Marathon
She finished the women’s 42.2km in third place in 03:07:57.
It was perhaps still early in the race, but Alison de Bruin knew within the first 5km of the Johnson Crane Hire Marathon at Willowmoore Park on January 26 that she would have a fantastic outing on the road.
By the 27km mark and with Nedbank Running Club’s Bernadene McLeod and Nobukhosi Tshuma of Entsika AC slightly ahead, it became clear to De Bruin that she was in the top three of the women’s race.
“On approaching the 5km mark, I felt strong and comfortable. After the water point, the pacer bicycle called out the top three leading ladies. At first, it didn’t seem possible because I knew I still had a long way to go,” De Bruin said.
“I decided to remain consistent and stick to the game plan of pacing correctly and maintaining even splits. At the 27km mark, I realised there was a possibility of being in the top three.”
With McLeod and Tshuma dictating the pace, the Benoni Northerns Athletic Club (BNAC) athlete crushed the kilometres with discipline and wasn’t too stressed by what the leaders did up front.
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She ran the first 11km in 50:34 at 04:36/km and completed the next 10km to the halfway point in 44:50, at 04:29/km.
From halfway, she ran her fastest split of the day to reach the 30km mark in 36:07, averaging 04:01/km before completing the last 12km in 56:03 at 04:36/km to finish the 42.2km double-lap course, third in 03:07:57.
McLeod cut the tape in 03:00:44, with Tshuma grabbing runner-up honours 01:49 later after crossing the line in 03:05:15 before De Bruin received loud cheers from her BNAC clubmates when she entered the finishing straight inside the Willowmoore Park main oval to seal the last podium spot.
“This is definitely the best achievement in terms of a marathon that I have accomplished in my running career so far. This sport is my passion and an integral part of my life,” she said.
De Bruin was resilient and worked herself to the bone on the fast and flat course.
She remained composed for most of the race to avoid being caught up in the excitement of a top-three finish, especially with the 2023 runner-up, Renata Vosloo, hot on her heels.
“The best part of running a home race is not the well-known route but rather the familiar faces. The biggest challenge was keeping my head down and sticking to the plan while not getting caught up in the excitement of placing in one of the first marathons of the season.”
Next on her agenda is the TracN4 Elands Marathon on February 16, where she hopes to break the sub-three-hour barrier and would then focus on preparing for the Totalsports Two Oceans in April and the Comrades Marathon on June 8.
“I have some big goals and dreams I would like to achieve. That’s why I will always remember the saying, ‘Dream as big as you can and anything is possible’.”
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