Matthews is king of the forests

SPORT NEWS - Nedbank Running Club's Selwyn Matthews has pulled off the incredible feat of winning both forest runs staged on the Garden Route this year.

The local athlete blitzed the field to win the George Madibaz Forest Run with Discovery Vitality half-marathon on Saturday, bettering the second place he achieved in his debut outing last year.

Matthews' victory, in a time of 1:13:32, was made all the sweeter in that it came after winning the prestigious SPAR Knysna Forest Marathon in July.

The women's 21,1km title went to Annarie Donald, who crossed the line in 1:34:30.

The 10km men's and women's winners were Sicelo Mashaba and Melissa van Rensburg, while Khanya Matika and Tamsyn Simon took top honours in the 5km race.

Hundreds of athletes turned out for the Madibaz event, which for the first time formed part of the Discovery Vitality Run Series, a programme of national races aimed at helping people stay healthy through physical activity.

Hundreds of runners of all ages and fitness levels came out to support this weekend's George Madibaz Forest Run.

While the weather may have been on the cold side on Saturday, Matthews' run was anything but. From the start, he set a steady but rapid pace that ultimately proved too hot to handle for the competition.

"After last year I told myself I needed to put in more work, so winning this race is nice," he said. "I wanted to win this race. I've always been with my running partner, Lloyd Bosman, but this year he wasn't there, so it was nice to win it on my own."

Bosman, last year's champion, placed second to Matthews at the Knysna run earlier this year.

It was a case of first time's a charm for Donald, a biokineticist from Hartenbos, though she admitted the win had come as a surprise. "There are usually girls who are faster than me but they weren't here," she quipped.

She found the chilly weather to her liking but had to change her race strategy after learning that there were trails on the route.

"I had planned to start slower and end stronger, but I realised that wouldn't work. So I decided to take the race as it is, going faster downhill if the terrain wasn't too rough."

As much as the presence of trails caught her off guard, they served as motivation to include more trail running in her programme going forward.

Race director Hugo Loubser believed the race had taken a significant leap forward. Aside from the new 10km race taking in tough sections of the forest, running on mountain bike single-track proved to be an inspired move. He thanked all stakeholders who ensured the Madibaz George Forest Run was a big success.

Annarie Donald from Hartenbos won the women's 21,1km race.