Young Tembisa athlete is off to Denmark

Ryan Mphahlele of Tembisa Athletics Club guns for the number one spot at the Stellenbosch Street Mile next week before heading to Denmark next month.

The young star, born and bred in Tembisa, was crowned South Africa’s u-23 4km cross country champion in Port Elizabeth on September 8 last year, running his best time of 11:29.

Mphahlele, who began participating in athletics when he was in Grade Four, won his first race as a first-time participant. He attended Hoërskool Birchleigh. During that time, he came second at the South African Schools Cross Country Championships.

He won the SA Cross Country Club Championships. His coach Elvis Khoza from Tembisa Athletics Club was nominated the best development coach in Gauteng in 2015.

Mphahlele said growing up he was more focused on soccer than athletics. “I started taking athletics serious at high school when I was in Grade Eight,” said Mphahlele.

Manager Marcel Viljoen said the first race for the year is the Stellenbosch Street Mile on February 27. Due to Mphahlele’s success in the December street mile series in the Cape, he was invited to this one as well.

“Next month, he will be going to Denmark for the World Cross Country Championships. It is the first time he will be part of the national team at this level, which is the biggest of its kind in the world,” said Viljoen.