Newly crowned SA marathon champion Simon Sibeko says he's not keen on running the Comrades Marathon due to its demanding training regimen.
Sibeko won the Athletics SA national marathon (42.2km) on Sunday when he finished second to become the South African man to cross the tape first at the Durban International Marathon. The race however was won by Lesotho's Tebello Ramakongona in 2:10:11.
Annie Bothma won the women's title as she and Sibeko both recorded marathon personal bests of 2:30:31 and 2:12:06 respectively.
Central Gauteng Athletics’ Sibeko, 28, who is trained by Sam Mlangeni, was delighted with the showing he put on Sunday.
“I ran well on Sunday, the race was nice and the weather was allowing. We have been training hard, we wanted to improve on my time. I’m happy about the time I ran, although I was not paying attention to the time, I was enjoying the race,” Sibeko said yesterday.
The Comrades Marathon’s value for marathon specialists always divides opinions. The taxing ultra-marathon (90km) is often waved by elite marathon runners. Sibeko explained why marathon specialists often shun the epic race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, citing the training for the race is demanding.
“I don’t run the Comrades, I’m only focusing on [standard] marathons (42.2km). In my view the marathon is much better, the Comrades demands more training. You have to add your mileage and stay in one setting for a long time. You focus on the road only and not do tracks. Your time trials are based on 42km for the Comrades,” he explained.
Last year Sibeko was ranked fifth among SA marathon runners, with him entering a stage in his career where he’s expected to peak, eyes are on him to see how he develops. Looking forward to the season ahead, Sibeko said he aimed to improve his personal best time and do well in the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon and Absa Run Your City series.
“I’m looking at the SA 21km, I want to improve my time there and the Sanlam also, I want to improve my time. I plan on running the Absa 10km. I want to be running fast like the likes of Stephen Mokoka, I feel like I’m on pace to achieve that,” Sibeko said.
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