Runners enjoy the road
Frikkie Pretorius believes that local athletes must concentrate on being fit for next year's events.
Cyril Lehong cyrill@caxton.co.za
Brakpan Athletics Club members were happy to be running in an event when they recently took part in the Comrades Legends race.
With very few sporting events taking place nowadays due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the athletes took advantage of the event which took place as a result of the Comrades Marathon being cancelled.
“It was a nice race to run in,” said Brakpan’s chairperson Frikkie Pretorius.
Pretorius admits that with runners only being allowed to run on the road recently the group had not done a lot of training ahead of the race.
“I took it as a challenge,” he said.
He ran in the 10km section in an hour and 18 minutes, which is significantly faster than the 1:40 he ran the same distance in 2019.
“I was happy with my time,” he said.
“It was difficult to train in the mornings and now you have to try to run in the evenings after work.”
While he enjoys running on the road, Pretorius is more involved in track and field events.
He believes that local athletes must concentrate on being fit for next year’s events.
“There will be no track and field this year. They must prepare for 2021,” he said.
“It is very difficult to train now but they must be fit to compete. They must train hard and stay safe and stay home if they can so that they can protect themselves from corona.”
The struggle for athletes is likely to be around for a long time but Pretorius clearly wants to keep encouraging them to do well.
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