Frans Hosea judged his race to perfection to win the Aqua Splash Xtrail at Avis Dam on Sunday.
Hosea covered the 11,5km off road run in an excellent time of 44 minutes 16 seconds to finish 16 seconds ahead of Simon Shipingana and Jason Nghinanamunhu who crossed the finish line in the same time.
The 11.5km Aqua Splash race took place on a combination of footpaths, cattle paths and river bed. The race was tough with some long hard climbs and near the end the participants had to endure a 1km run in river sand.
Erich Goeieman and Jason Nghinanamunhu led a group of runners who broke away from the pack soon after the start, as they went flying over the rocks, dodging trees, rocks and cows.
For most of the race Frans Hosea stayed at the back of the main pack letting the others do the work, while he bided his time and worked out exactly which way the course was maneuvering through the bush.
With just under 1km to go he opened the throttle leaving his opposition behind to win the race, finishing comfortably ahead of Shipingana and Nghinanamunhu.
Anna Amutoko was first elite female runner, finishing in a time of 50:43. She finished well ahead of Helena Iipinge who came second in 51:16, while Rachel Akukothela finished a distant third in 57:22.
The full results are attached, while photos of the event can be seen at the Otb Sport fan page on facebook, or visit www.otbsport.com.
The event was sponsored by Aqua Splash Water, a Namibia Dairies brand. Their brand slogan is "A Healthy Obsession" which is fitting with this type of Endurance Activity.
Yvonne Brinkmann from Otb Sport said that they were delighted with the response to this type of bush running.
"At one stage we thought Windhoekers are not going to take to trail running. We were wrong - counting by the responses we are getting, they loved it. Running out in nature is something that once you do it you are hooked".
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| Aqua Splash Xtrail Results 2010.pdf | 58.24 KB |