In a near repeat of last year it was again Dane Bird-Smith (Australia) and South Africas Lebogang Shange from Tuks HPC who took the top honours at the Oceania Race 20km Race Walk Championship in Adelaide this weekend.

The bronze medallist at last years Olympic Games in Rio, Bird-Smith, won in a time of 1:19:37 with Shange second in 1:21:00 and Quentin Rew (New Zealand) third in 1:21:12.

Another local athlete, Wayne Snyman from Tuks HPC, finished sixth in a time of 1:21:26.

Shange had sort of mixed feelings after the weekends race. In light of the fact that he has been diagnosed with an iron deficiency while he was at a training camp he considers his second place finish as not to bad. He was told by the Australian medical team who treated him not to get his hope up for a good result.

The HPC-athlete said it was a matter of pride that led to him pushing himself deep into the red.

There is no way that I could train in Australia for two months and then come back to South Africa empty handed. The fact that I doubted my own physical abilities led to me starting the race quite conservatively. Once I realized that I am actually feeling quite good I started to up my pace which led to me catching and passing the early race leaders, he said after the race.

His disappointment sprouts from the fact that according to the official qualification standards set by the IAAF he would have qualified for the World Championships in London but according to qualification standards set by Athletics South Africa he has not done so. The South African qualification standard is 1:20:30 while the IAAFs standard is 1:24:00. According to the IAAF qualification standards Snyman has also qualified to represent South Africa in London.

Last year Shange set a new South African record when raced to a time of 1:20:06.

It would have been nice to have had the qualification for the World Championships out of the way so that I can just focus on becoming a stronger and faster as I am driven by a hunger to make South Africans proud every time I race. Instead my coach, Chris Britz, and I will now have to identify another race to try and qualify. To meet the ASA standard is going to be quite a challenge as I would have to walk near SA record pace to do so. In most international races a time of 1:20:30 will be good enough for a podium finish, Shange concluded.

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Shange excel at the Oceania Race Walk Championship - Pretoria East Rekord