Luketz Swartbooi gave a great performance to win the final leg of the Old Mutual Victory Races in Windhoek on Saturday. Swartbooi completed the 21km event in a new record time of 65 minutes 30 seconds for the Windhoek course that takes the athletes over some steep hill climbs on the Daan Viljoen road.
The 44-year-old Swartbooi took the lead from the start with a group of five other athletes incuding Reinhold Iita, Ruben Indongo, Mynhard Kuanivi, Frans Hosea and Johannes Naitembu.
Swartbooi maintained a blistering pace from the start and the leading pack soon started to break up. After about 4km Swartbooi and Indongo pulled away from the pack, and with Kuanivi about 20m behind in third and Iita and Hosea more than 50m further behind.
After 7km Swartbooi opened up a gap on Indongo and steadily pulled away going up the first hill climb on the Daan Viljoen road.
At the halfway mark Swartbooi was already more than 300m ahead and the race was effectively over. Despite running on his own, he maintained his blistering pace to streak away to victory in a new record time for the Windhoek course.
Iita managed to catch a tiring Indongo at the finish line to finish second in 1:06:44 while Indongo came third in 1:06:49.
Swartbooi said his race went according to plan.
“The race went very well and it was well organised. The course was very tough but this race is like training for me and my goal now is the World Half Marathon Championships - that’s what Im training for now,” he said.
“My training went very well so for me the competition wasn’t that tough today. I just stuck to my own pace and did not worry about the other athletes,” he added.
Swartbooi said he hoped to do well at the World Half Marathon Championships in China in October.
“In China, if I can run a Top 20 it will be a bonus for me because its the World Champs and I cannot expect to run a top 10. But who knows, maybe I can even run a top 10,” he said.
Helalia Johannes dominated the women’s race to win in a time of 1:16:29. She pulled away from the pack early on and at the halfway mark had built up a lead of more than 100m on Helena Ipinge.
Johannes gradually increased her lead and eventually finished more than a minute ahead of Ipinge, who came second in 1:17:33, while Anna Amotoko came third in 1:22:02.
“The race was OK even though the course was tough. But I just took it easy because I did not feel too well because I had a problem with my stomach,” she said.
“The competition wasn’t too strong because I just took it easy to the turning point. Then after that point I started to open up.”
“I think I can do well at the World Championships, but it will all depend on my health and my preparation,” she said.
The results are attached.
| Attachment | Size |
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| Victory Race Finals Results.xls | 29.5 KB |