ASA highlight need for pre-competition training camp after SA's mixed bag of performances at World Cross Country Champs

With the likes of Precious Mashele, Elroy Gelant, Maxime Chaumeton, Ryan Mphahlele, Tshepo Tshite and Prudence Sekgodišo either unavailable for selection or having retired from cross country, South Africa were forced to select no less than eight debutantes in the mixed relay, senior men's and women's teams alone. It means that where the relay team earned fourth position and the senior men were able to finish as high as fifth place in 2023, SA's overall performance at the World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Florida this past weekend reflected the team's overall inexperience.

Team SA lead by national half marathon record holder Adriaan Wildschutt who was the only athlete to earn a top twenty finish, pose for a photo at the OR Tambo International Airport after returning from the World Cross Country Championships in the United States. Photo Credit: Cecilia van Bers.

Despite Adriaan Wildschutt’s typically determined run to take a credible 13th overall in a highly competitive men’s race won for the third time by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, both the senior men and women’s teams finished in ninth place overall with the junior (U20) teams (whose ranked included a number of fifteen and sixteen year-old athletes) simply there for the experience. 

Jakes Jacobs, chairperson of the ASA cross country commission, felt that some of the athletes in the national team had performed better than expected, while others had struggled to compete at their best against many of the world's top distance runners, but he believed they had gained valuable experience. Jacobs suggested that with the World Cross Country Championships now taking place in January as opposed to February/March ASA may consider hosting a pre-competition camp to give athletes the opportunity to train during the December period that is usually holiday time in the country.

Sanele Masondo who is a student at Iowa State finished as the top Collegian (position 33) in the senior men's race at the World Cross Country Championships. Masondo is originally from KZN. Photo Credit: FloTrack.

"The accommodation was good, the arrangements were good. Everything went smoothly. The athletes were happy, so I'm happy,"  Jacobs said after arriving at OR Tambo International on Tuesday 13 January. "I'm happy with the performance of most of the athletes. Some performed above their abilities but four or five did not perform that well and I write that down to the fact that the championships took place just after Christmas and New Year. That was a definite challenge because I don’t know if all the training camps worked well."

One of those who performed 'better than expected' was Karabo More. Making her debut at the global cross country championships, the 23-year-old ran a superb second leg for the senior mixed relay quartet in the 4x2km contest. She joined Luan Munnik, Christopher Swart and Carina Viljoen as they took sixth place, which was the best team result by the South African squad in the US on 10 January.

More (centre with peroxided hair) is pleased with her debut World Cross Country Championships performance. Photo Credit: ASA Media.

"I'm very proud of myself and very happy. It was my first World Cross Country Championships, so I was so nervous. I must thank God because he pulled me through. I'm really proud of the team for putting in the effort and the teamwork. It was great because I still see myself as an emerging athlete. I’m getting there but I’m not there yet. I still have to work hard, stay disciplined and keep believing in myself," More said.