Ngamole aims for title defence
Coolboy Ngamole is confident he will defend his title when he takes on the country's top long-distance runners at the SA Marathon Championships in Oudtshoorn on Sunday.
The 2012 national champion said on Wednesday he hoped to dip under two hours, 12 minutes (2:12:00) in his efforts to qualify for the IAAF World Championship in Russia. A victory under 2:17:00 would see him gain automatic qualification in the men's marathon event.
“My aim is to win the race and run the best time that I can run,” Ngamole said.
“The course is three laps and is a flat course, which I prefer because I do better on them.
“Winning this race is very important for me because I want to qualify for the world champs in Russia.”
Ngamole has two SA marathon titles under his belt. He won the gold medal in 2010 and 2012, and was runner-up in 2011 behind Lusapho April.
He competed in the men's marathon at the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, where he finished in 46th position in a time of 2:30:01, and he also lined up at the London Olympics but collapsed in the last seven kilometres of the race and did not finish.
Ngamole started his preparations for the national championships in November and was satisfied with the progress he had made.
“Like every other runner, I have a secret weapon for the race on Sunday,” he said.
“I started my training in November and I did not go home to Madibogo in December as I was busy training.
“The training went well and I'm very confident. I did not experience any problems.”
In the women's race, Gladys Lukhwareni, Tshifiwa Moundalamo, Pauline Njeya and Ndofhiwa Mandiwana will lead a wide open field in the absence of defending champion Charne Bosman and 2012 silver medallist Mpho Mabuza.
Bosman, who won the race the last two years in a row, will instead focus on the Two Oceans ultra-marathon in Cape Town in March.
