Martin Gillingham road running
South Africa might be without a royal household but this weekend one of the republic’s subjects could well find himself crowned monarch of his own kingdom in a ceremony performed right in front of Buckingham Palace.
There may be nothing blue about the stuff that flows through Hendrick Ramaala’s veins but that will mean little to the Wits University law graduate if the sceptre he’s clasping on Sunday comes in the form of a cheque for $55 000. That’s the prize to the man who crosses the line first in the London Marathon which finishes just outside the Queen’s front gate.
Ramaala, who at 29 is approaching what should be his peak, goes into the race with the best possible confidence boost. Three weeks ago he beat the man who is being touted as the favourite, Paul Tergat, at the Lisbon half-marathon. The Kenyan is one of the world’s greatest middle-distance runners yet having been a multiple winner of the world cross-country title. He’s also won the world half-marathon title for the past two years and came within a hair’s breadth of upsetting Haile Gebrselassie in the 10 000m at the Olympic Games in Sydney.
But this is Tergat’s first run over the classic 26 miles 385 yards and, although aficionados are talking it up as the most significant marathon debut since Emil Zatopek stepped on to the track in Helsinki 49 years ago after having won the Olympic 5 000m and 10 000m title the previous week, it’s making this the biggest hyped men’s marathon of the year.
That, of course, only raises the stakes for Ramaala, who too has much to prove in the marathon. His international career started on the track at 5 000m and 10 000m where he made world championship finals six years ago in Gothenburg. From there he graduated to half-marathons where he has enjoyed significant success culminating in that victory over Tergat in Portugal.
But Ramaala has little to show from three previous marathon attempts two mediocre runs and one failure to finish.
The biggest marathon week of the year got under way on Monday with the 105th running of the Boston Marathon. And if we are searching for omens for London then the performance of three South Africans suggests we have plenty to look forward to. Laban Nkete, until now the running equivalent of a cycling team’s domestique, was seventh and Makhosonke Fika ninth. Ernst van Dyk, who works at Stellenbosch University, won the wheelchair race.
London, like Boston, will be screened live on Supersport, which is proving a godsend to international sports lovers. Pity, however, the American commentary team that came with the Boston package.
Sunday’s commentary is sure to be better than the double act identified only as “Michelle” and “Larry”, who bumbled and bluffed their way through two-and-a-half hours on Monday. In the end though it was Larry who took the award for greatest service to buffoonery when he foisted upon us not only pearls of wisdom about the athletics world but also an unlikely familiarity with the state education system that has cultivated so much talent in the Rift Valley of Kenya. “They all wear uniforms over there in Kenya you know,” he gushed. “It’s a great environment.”