…after obtaining second position at the Absa Run Your City race
Leemisa Thuseho
MARATHONER, ‘Neheng Khatala, has turned her focus to the Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon.
This is after her successful run at the Absa Run Your City 10km race in Cape Town on Sunday.
On that day, Khatala settled for second position after completing the race in a time of 32:16.
She finished behind the winner, Diana Chepkorir of Kenya, who clocked in 31:47.
Getenesh Sase Agafew of Ethiopia came in third with a time of 32:48.
Ahead of the race, Khatala had said her target was to make it to the podium to maintain her good record when running in Cape Town.
In 2022 she achieved her personal best of 32:06 in the Absa Run Your City 10km race in Cape Town.
On 30 May 2021, she won the Langa Marathon Challenge to set Lesotho’s national record of 2:28:06. The race was still in Cape Town.
Furthermore, she ran her 12km personal best (40:16) during the Cape Town 12km City Run race on 21 November 2021.
Having fulfilled the target of once again recording a podium finish in Cape Town, she said her focus was now on the Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon on 1 June 2024 in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape.
“Now that I am done with the Absa Run Your City, my focus is now on the Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon in June,” Khatala told the Lesotho Times this week.
“I have to work hard because I am targeting a new personal best in the half marathon.”
Khatala’s current personal best in half marathon is 1:09:57, which she attained during the same event (Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon), on 4 June 2022.
Ahead of Sunday’s race, Khatala was fresh from the Hamburg Marathon in Germany where she clocked in 2:28:37, securing tenth position on 28 April 2024.
As a result, she said she did not even engage in intensive training as she was still in her recovery period.
“I am looking forward to return to my intensive training routines to prepare for the Nelson Mandela Bay race. As for the past weekend’s race, I didn’t even do any intense training because I was still in my recovery period after the Hamburg marathon,” Khatala said.
