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GEORGE NEWS - Brendan Lombard ran to a hard-fought Discovery George Mountain Ultra Trail victory over defending champion Roelof Mostert last Saturday.
Lombard's winning time was 7:03:25. Mostert crossed the line 5 minutes and 5 seconds later.
Mvuyisi Gcogco completed the podium places, finishing 14 minutes and 38 seconds after the race winner. The wo-men's race, over the flagship 60km distance, was won in far more dominant fashion by Annalise Scholtz.
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The event also saw 25km and 9km distances contested on highly technical mountain running trails in the Outeniqua mountains outside George.
Women's race winner Scholtz had a lonelier run to victory. "It was fun," were the first words out of the new Discovery MUT champion's mouth upon crossing the finish line. "I really enjoyed it. It was a tough day out but it was beautiful. I felt very strong, had some hiccups along the way but it wouldn't be an ultra without them. But overall I'm very happy," she smiled.
The trail runner from Port Elizabeth was joined on the podium by former George local Chantel Nienaber and Mia Uys, a Stellenbosch University post-graduate student. Scholtz's winning time was 8:37:54, which was good enough to see her placed sixth overall. Nienaber crossed the line
39 minutes and 21 seconds later, while Uys finished just over an hour after Scholtz.
The shorter distances were even more fiercely contested. The 25km race in particular saw exceptionally fast times, with both the winner and second placed man breaking AJ Calitz's 2018 course record.
Making that fact more remarkable was the increased technicality of the 2019 route.
Johan Cronjé, the South African 1 500m record holder and 2013 World Championships bronze medallist, ensured the pace was frantic from the off. The erstwhile track star was making his trail running race debut and had never completed a 25km run off-road. But that did not hold him back. He blitzed the course in a time of 2:06:49. Anderson Ncube crossed the line 8 minutes and 58 seconds after Cronjé; recounting how he had seen the winner fall at least twice on the Cradock Pass descent. Cronje's falls clearly did not slow him down. Despite his tumbles, his buffer to Rohan Kennedy, who finished third, was a comfortable 13 minutes and 57 seconds.
The women's 25km race was won by Ritsa Fouche in a time of 2:49:45. Her nearest rival was Marta Jekot, who finished 3 minutes and 15 seconds back. George resident, Rose de Jonge, completed the podium after overcoming the setback of a nasty fall inside the first five kilometres.
Seldom has a 9km been as tough as the Discovery MUT's shortest distance. Like the longer distances, it featured true mountain running, nonetheless Warren Langridge and Marc Wierzba managed to dip under the 60-minute mark. Langridge took the men's title in a time of just 55:07. Wierzba was second, 4 minutes and 11 seconds slower. Douglas Stanley rounded out the men's podium.
The women's race over the shortest distance was won by Knysna's Jess Devine. The 17-year old completed the very challenging course in 1:10:18 - 2 minutes and 56 seconds ahead of Trude Carstens. Ane O'Kennedy was third, just 14 seconds behind Carstens.
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