Phalaborwa runners shine at Comrades with silver medals
Ba-Phalaborwa runners earned silver medals at the Comrades, with Lutendo Mapoto finishing 99th and Present Mongwe improving his time by over an hour.
PHALABORWA – Local runners proudly represented the Ba-Phalaborwa community at the Comrades Marathon on Sunday, June 14, with several athletes earning silver medals and one recording a significant personal best.
Mapoto breaks top 100 despite cramps
Lutendo Mapoto of PMC Athletics Club was among the standout performers, finishing the gruelling race in 6:18:39. His effort secured him a place inside the top 100, ending the race in 99th position overall.
Despite the impressive result, Mapoto admitted he was disappointed with his time, having aimed to finish under 5:50:00.
“I’m not pleased with my time because I trained really well for this race,” he said. “That said, I’m happy that I managed to finish and earn a silver medal. My problems started around the halfway mark when I began experiencing cramps all the way to the finish line, which disrupted my race plan.”
Strong season continues
Mapoto has enjoyed a strong season so far. In March, he won the 10km race at the Tzaneen Tuffy, and in April he claimed first place in the men’s 42.2km event at the Makoro Village Marathon.
Training partners finish one second apart
Other local athletes also delivered commendable performances. Hitekani Shikwambana of the University of Limpopo trained for the race alongside Julient Mgiba, also from PMC Athletics Club.
The pair ran together for the entire race and finished just one second apart. Shikwambana crossed the line in 7:21:09, while Mgiba followed closely in 7:21:10, earning them 604th and 605th positions respectively.
Both runners were delighted to secure silver medals, awarded to athletes who complete the Comrades in under 7:30:00.
Mongwe improves by over an hour
Present Mongwe of the SANDF Limpopo Athletics Club narrowly missed out on a silver medal but still produced a significant improvement. He completed the race in 7:41:15, bettering his 2025 time of 9:00:51 by more than an hour.
Speaking to the Herald, Mongwe said he was pleased with his progress and encouraged by the improvement.
Other club finishers
At Foskor Athletics Club, Rothmans Mahasha was the fastest finisher, recording a time of 9:45:33. Grant Murphy led the charge for Phalaborwa Road Runners with a time of 10:34:19.
