Just when it looked like Pretoria’s superstar athlete, Stephen Mokoka, had the race in the bag in the closing stages at the ASA Half-Marathon Championships in Port Elizabeth this past weekend, Precious Mashele fought back until he drew clear in the race for the finishing line.

Mashele completed the race in 1:01:17, adding the title to the national 5 000m conquest he won at the ASA Track and Field Championships in Pretoria earlier this month.

Mokoka clocked 1:01:17 to grab the silver medal, holding off a charge from Mbuleli Mathanga who was awarded the bronze medal after clocking the same time.

In the national women’s championship, Glenrose Xaba was the best of the local athletes, earning the gold medal in 1:09:30.

Fresh off her SA record marathon performance in Italy earlier this month, Gerda Steyn took the silver medal (1:12:13) and Irvette van Zyl also recovered sufficiently from her sub-2:30 marathon to earn bronze in 1:12:54.

KwaZulu Natal Athletics won gold in the men’s team competition, followed by Central Gauteng Athletics who took silver and Athletics Gauteng North who walked away with the bronze medal. In the women’s team competition, CGA took gold, with AGN at second, while KZNA took bronze.

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